Seasoning  for  Young  Folk 

Prepared  by- 
Howard  Pyle  «© 


^^*a^nrtJO™P^ 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00022228545 


c. 


->r\ 


V   i 


THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 

AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


PRESENTED  BY 


Edwin  T.   P.   Boone,  Jr. 
Bequest 


FEB  2  0  1990 


THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 

AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


ENDOWED  BY  THE 

DIALECTIC  AND  PHILANTHROPIC 

SOCIETIES 
LIBRARY 

SCHOOT.       


JH398.2 
Pyle 


DATE  DUE 


26  1-2  500 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


http://archive.org/details/peppersaltorseaspyle 


InJ  his  .is  fhe  way  fhat  °ne  in  Cap  andAVuey  stops  for 
awhile  along  fho  stony  Pafh  °f  Life  to  make  you  laugh  • 


Copyright,  1885,  by  Harper  &  Brothers 

Copyright,   1913,  by  Anne  Poole  Pyle 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


T  T  ERE,  my  little  man,  you  may  hold  my  cap  and  bells, 
*■  -*•  — and  you,  over  there,  may  hold  the  bauble!  Now, 
then,  I  am  ready  to  talk  as  a  wise  man  should  and  am  a 
giddy-pated  jester  no  longer! 

This  is  what  I  have  to  say : 

One  must  have  a  little  pinch  of  seasoning  in  this  dull, 
heavy  life  of  ours;  one  should  never  look  to  have  all  the 
troubles,  the  labors,  and  the  cares,  with  never  a  whit  of 
innocent  jollity  and  mirth.  Yes,  one  must  smile  now  and 
then,  if  for  nothing  else  than  to  lift  the  corners  of  the 
rips  in  laughter  that  are  only  too  often  dragged  down 
in  sorrow. 

It  is  for  this  that  I  sit  here  now,  telling  you  all  manner 
of  odd  quips  and  jests  until  yon  sober,  wise  man  shakes  his 
head  and  goes  his  way,  thinking  that  I  am  even  more  of  a 
shallow-witted  knave  than  I  really  am.  But,  prut!  Who 
cares  for  that?    I  am  sure  that  I  do  not  if  you  do  not. 

Yet  listen!  One  must  not  look  to  have  nothing  but 
pepper  and  salt  in  this  life  of  ours — no,  indeed!  At  that 
rate  we  would  be  worse  off  than  we  are  now.  I  only  mean 
that  it  is  a  good  and  pleasant  thing  to  have  something  to 
lend  the  more  solid  part  a  little  savor  now  and  then ! 

So,  here  I'll  sit;  and,  perhaps,  when  you  have  been 


PREFACE 

good  children,  and  have  learned  your  lessons  or  done 
your  work,  your  mother  will  let  you  come  and  play  a 
little  while  with  me.  I  will  always  be  ready  and  waiting 
for  you  here,  and  I  will  warrant  your  mother  that  I  will 
do  you  no  harm  with  anything  that  I  may  tell  you.  If 
I  can  only  make  you  laugh  and  be  merry  for  a  little  while, 
then  my  work  will  be  well  done,  and  I  will  be  glad  in  the 
doing  of  it. 

And  now  give  me  my  cap  and  bells  again,  for  my 
wits  are  growing  cold  without  them;  and  you  will  be 
pleased  to  reach  me  my  bauble  once  more,  for  I  love 
to  have  him  by  me. 

Will  you  be  seated?  And  you,  over  there,  seat  the 
baby  on  the  grass!  Are  you  ready?  Very  well'  then 
I  will  tell  you  a  story,  and  it  shall  be  about  "The  Skillful 
Huntsman." 


THE  SKILLFUL  HUNTSMAN Page 

Two   Opinions Facing  p. 

Ye  Song  of  Ye  Foolish  Old  Woman 

A  Newspaper  Puff 

Three  Fortunes 

CLAUS  AND  HIS  WONDERFUL  STAFF    ....     Page 

Venturesome  Boldness Facing  p. 

Superficial  Culture 

HOW   DAME   MARGERY   TWIST   SAW   MORE   THAN 
WAS  GOOD  FOR  HER Page 

Ye  Song  of  Ye  Gossips Facing  p. 

A  Victim  to  Science 

Play  and  Earnest 

The  Accident  of  Birth 

CLEVER  PETER  AND  THE  TWO  BOTTLES     .     .     Page 

Ye  Romantic  Adventures  of  Three  Tailors      .      .      .  Facing  p. 

Fancy  and  Fact    

Ye  Two  Wishes 

A  Verse  with  a  Moral  but  No  Name 

HANS  HECKLEMANN'S  LUCK Page 

Ye  Song  of  Ye  Rajah  and  Ye  Fly Facing  p. 

Pride  in  Distress 

Profession  and  Practice 

A  Tale  of  a  Tub 

ix 


4 

5 

12 

13 

16 
17 


28 

32 

33 
36 
37 

43 

44 
45 
48 
49 

57 

64 
65 
68 

69 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

FARMER  GRIGGS'S  BOGGART Page  69 

Ye  Story  of  a  Blue  China  Plate Facing  p.  76 

Moral  Blindness 77 

overconfidence 80 

The  Force  of  Need 81 

THE  BIRD  IN  THE  LINDEN  TREE Page  82 

THE  APPLE  OF  CONTENTMENT Page  96 

A  Disappointment Facing  p.  96 

Ye  Sad  Story  Concerning  One  Innocent  Little  Lamb  and  Four 

Wicked  Wolves Facing  p.  97 


This  Is  the  Way  That  One  in  Cap  and  Motley  Stops  for  Awhile 

Along  the  Stony  Path  of  Life  to  Make  You  Laugh    .      .   Frontispiece 

Jacob's  Mother  and  the  Herr  Mayor Page  2 

Jacob  and  the  Red  One 4 

Two  Opinions Facing  p.  4 

Ye  Song  of  Ye  Foolish  Old  Woman         5 

Jacob  Shoots  at  the  Magpie Page  6 

Jacob  and  the  Magic  Plough 8 

Jacob  and  the  Red  One  Go  Hunting  Together     ....  11 

A  Newspaper  Puff Facing  p.  12 

Three  Fortunes 13 

Jacob  and  Gretchen  Get  the  Best  of  the  Red  One  and  Go  Home 

Together   Happily Page  13 

Claus  and  the  Master  of  Black-Arts "  16 

Venturesome  Boldness Facing  p.  16 

Superficial  Culture         17 

Claus  and  the  White  Snake Page  18 

The  Master  Is  Angry "  20 

Claus  Listens  to  the  Talk  of  the  Two  Ravens       ....        "  21 

Claus  and  the  Manikin "  23 

Hans  Discovers  Claus's  Luck "  25 

Dame  Twist  Drinketh  Tea "  30 

The  Little  Man  and  the  Great  Horse "  32 

Ye  Song  of  Ye  Gossips Facing  p.  32 

A   Victim   to    Science "  33 

Dame  Twist  Visits  a  Strange  Patient Page  34 

Dame  Twist  Drives  Away  the  Little  Folks "  36 

Play  and  Earnest Facing  p.  36 

The  Accident  of  Birth "  37 

xi 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Dame  Margery  Twist  Goeth  to  See  the  Merry  Doings  at  the 

Fair Page  38 

Dame   Twist    Sees   the   Little    Man    in    Green    for    the    Last 

Time Page  40 

Ye  Romantic  Adventures  of  Three  Tailors      ....    Facing  p.  44 

Fancy  and  Fact           "  45 

Clever  Peter  and  the  Little  Gentleman  in  Black     .     .      .      Page  46 
Clever    Peter    Rides    to    the    King's    Palace     upon    His    Fine 

Horse Page  48 

Ye  Two  Wishes Facing  p.  48 

A  Verse  with  a  Moral  but  No  Name "  49 

Peter  Eats  with  the  King  and  Princess Page  51 

Clever  Peter  and  the  Unlucky  Bottle "  54 

Clever    Peter    Opens   the   Unlucky    Bottle   for   the    King   and 

Princess Page  56 

Hans   Hecklemann 58 

Catherine "  58 

Hans  Hecklemann  Goes  to  the  Cottage  of  the  Old  Wise  Woman 

in  Search  of  His  Luck Page  61 

Hans  Hecklemann  and  the  Old  Wise  Woman     ....        "  62 

Hans  Finds  His  Luck "  64 

Ye  Song  of  Ye  Rajah  and  Ye  Fly Facing  p.  64 

Pride  in  Distress         "  65 

Hans  Hecklemann  Ploughs  for  Gold Page  65 

Profession  and  Practice Facing  p.  68 

A  Tale  of  a  Tub "  69 

Farmer  Georgie  Griggs Page  70 

Dame  Mally  Griggs "  72 

Farmer  Griggs  and  the  Boggart "  73 

Ye  Story  of  a  Blue  China  Plate Facing  p.  76 

Moral  Blindness 77 

The    Departure Page  77 

Farmer  Griggs  and  the  Wise  Man 78 

Overconfidence Facing  p.  80 

The  Force  of  Need 81 

xii 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  Boggart  Rejoices Page  81 

Ye  King "  84 

Prince  John 84 

The  Prince  Aids  the  Old  Woman 86 

The  Great  Ugly  Troll  Finds  the  Prince  by  the  Fire     .      .  88 
The  Goose-herd  and  Her  Daughter  Meet  the  Princess  at  the 

Roadside Page  90 

The  Prince  Looks  Through  the  Magic  Key 91 

The  Old  King  Rejoices  at  His  New  Daughter-in-law    .      .  94 

A  Disappointment Facing  p.  96 

Ye  Sad  Story  Concerning  One  Innocent  Little  Lamb  and  Four 

Wicked  Wolves Facing  p.  97 

The  Little  Man  Asks  for  His  Cap Page  98 

Christine  and  the  Apple "  100 

Christine's  Mother  and  Sisters  Wish  for  the  Apple  ...        "  101 

The  King  Reaches  for  the  Apple "  101 

The  King  Talks  with  the  Wise  Man "  105 

The  King's  Steward  and  Christine "  106 

Christine  Gives  the  Apple  to  the  King "  107 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


y 


N 


NCE  upon  a  time  there  was  a  lad  named  Jacob 
Boehm,  who  was  a  practical  huntsman. 

One  day  Jacob  said  to  his  mother,  "Mother,  I  would 
like  to  marry  Gretchen — the  nice,  pretty  little  daughter 
of  the  Herr  Mayor." 

Jacob's  mother  thought  that  he  was  crazy.  "Marry 
the  daughter  of  the  Herr  Mayor,  indeed!  You  want  to 
marry  the  daughter  of  the  Herr  Mayor?  Listen;  many  a 
man  wants  and  wants,  and  nothing  comes  of  it!" 

That  was  what  Jacob  Boehm's  mother  said  to  him. 

But  Jacob  was  deaf  in  that  ear;  nothing  would  do 
but  his  mother  must  go  to  the  Herr  Mayor,  and  ask  for 
leave  for  him  to  marry  Gretchen.  And  Jacob  begged  and 
begged  so  prettily  that  at  last  his  mother  promised  to  go 
and  do  as  he  wished.  So  off  she  went,  though  doubt 
was  heavy  in  her  shoes,  for  she  did  not  know  how  the  Herr 
Mayor  would  take  it. 

"So  Jacob  wants  to  marry  Gretchen,  does  he?"  said  the 
Herr  Mayor. 

Yes ;  that  was  what  Jacob  wanted. 


2  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

"And  is  he  a  practical  huntsman?"  said  the  Herr 
Mayor. 

Oh  yes,  he  was  that. 

"So  good,"  said  the  Herr  Mayor.  "Then  tell  Jacob 
that  when  he  is  such  a  clever  huntsman  as  to  be  able 


to  shoot  the  whiskers  off  from  a  running  hare  without 
touching  the  skin,  then  he  can  have  Gretchen." 

Then  Jacob's  mother  went  back  home  again.    "Now," 
said  she,  "Jacob  will,  at  least,  be  satisfied." 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  3 

"Yes,"  said  Jacob,  when  she  had  told  him  all  that 
the  Herr  Mayor  had  said  to  her,  "that  is  a  hard  thing  to 
do;  but  what  one  man  has  done,  another  man  can."  So 
he  shouldered  his  gun,  and  started  away  into  the  world 
to  learn  to  be  as  clever  a  huntsman  as  the  Herr  Mayor 
had  said. 

He  plodded  on  and  on  until  at  last  he  fell  in  with  a 
tall  stranger  dressed  all  in  red. 

"Where  are  you  going,  Jacob?"  said  the  tall  stranger, 
calling  him  by  his  name,  just  as  if  he  had  eaten  pottage 
out  of  the  same  dish  with  him. 

"I  am  going,"  said  Jacob,  "to  learn  to  be  so  clever  a 
huntsman  that  I  can  shoot  the  whiskers  off  from  a  running 
hare  without  touching  the  skin." 

"That  is  a  hard  thing  to  learn,"  said  the  tall  stranger. 

Yes ;  Jacob  knew  that  it  was  a  hard  thing;  but  what  one 
man  had  done  another  man  could  do. 

"What  will  you  give  me  if  I  teach  you  to  be  as  clever 
a  huntsman  as  that?"  said  the  tall  stranger. 

"What  will  you  take  to  teach  me?"  said  Jacob;  for  he 
saw  that  the  stranger  had  a  horse's  hoof  instead  of  a  foot, 
and  he  did  not  like  his  looks,  I  can  tell  you. 

"Oh,  it  is  nothing  much  that  I  want,"  said  the  tall  man; 
"only  just  sign  your  name  to  this  paper — that  is  all." 

But  what  was  in  the  paper?  Yes;  Jacob  had  to  know 
what  was  in  the  paper  before  he  would  set  so  much  as 
a  finger  to  it. 

Oh,  there  was  nothing  in  the  paper,  only  this:  that 
when  the  red  one  should  come  for  Jacob  at  the  end  of  ten 
years'  time,  Jacob  should  promise  to  go  along  with  him 
whithersoever  he  should  take  him. 


4  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

At  this  Jacob  hemmed  and  hawed  and  scratched  his 
head,  for  he  did  not  know  about  that.  "All  the  same," 
said  he,  "I  will  sign  the  paper,  but  on  one  condition." 

At  this  the  red  one  screwed  up  his  face  as  though  he 


had  sour  beer  in  his  mouth,  for  he  did  not  like  the  sound 
of  the  word  "condition."  "Well,"  said  he,  "what  is  the 
condition?" 

"It  is  only  this,"  said  Jacob:  "that  you  shall  be  my 
servant  for  the  ten  years,  and  if,  in  all  that  time,  I  should 


opinion-) 

■  noisy-chattering-.A\agpie-once- 
A- talking- gabbling-hairbrained-dunce 
Came-bywhere-a-iign-post-rtoocl- 
He-nodded- nis-Qead-wifrva-rnodijh,-alr> 
And-saidwgood-da.yu-  fpr-he.was-rtt-a'waxe- 
Th  af-fhe-sign-post-  poihting-ih-fmger-fher&- 
Was-only-a-bl°clt-of-wood- 

Qu°fh-he-'rAn-exceedingly-  5Liltry-day> 
'Tiimore-like-J[une-fhdn-fhe-nrst-of-/lay 

The-poii-  said-never-a-word- 
"iVejusf-djopped-over- from -Lincolnshire- 
Ay-home  is-in-fhe-Cafhedral-5pire- 
The- air-is- coo  ler-and-purer-fhe-higher. 
You-get-as-you-ve-doubtless-neard." 

So.on  he-chaitered-wrfh-never-a-  stop^ 
And-on-andon-till-you'd-  fhj'nk  -he-would-drop 

CThe-posf-was- dumb-aj  your-ria±0 

But  5°-as-.fh&-pie-could-say-his--say-     "=" 

He-did-n't-care-whefherlf-jpoke-all-dayp 

ForfhuS-he-objerved-ai-hewalked-aw'ay 

"Art-intelligent  •  creature -that-"  *  * 

(Y§  second- opinion- J 

l\[ow-once-when-fhe-iky-was'pouring-r3Jn.v  ,( 
The- /Magpie-chanced- to. come-by-ajjain- 
And-fhere-stood-fhe-post-in-fhe-wet' 
"HelIoa."iaid-ft\e-jMagpie-"Whar-you-here 
Pray-tell-me-I-beg-ijfhere-sheHering-near- 
A-terrible-day-for-thiS-time-of;<ne-year- 


'T-would-  make  -a-  Jainl-Anfhony-'fret-'" 

"I-beg-  your-pardon-I-did-n't-quite-hear- 
(Then- louder)"  I-say-is-fhere-jheltering-near 
But-fhe-post-was-as-dumb-as-Deafh* 
"What-carft-you-answer- a- question- pray- 
You-wlll-not-  N°-Then-I-'I1- say- good-day 
And-flirting-his- tail-he  walk&d-away-      <* 
"You-'r-a-fool-"  (fhis-  under-his-breaflv)  £ 

L'.ENVOY- 

The-moral-fhat-fhis-»tory.tracei 
It-  Circumstances -alter- cases. 


I  faw  an  old  woman  go  up  a  fteephlll, 

And  fhe  chuckled  and  Iaughed1asfhe\vent,wifha.'Wi!l. 

And  yet, as  fhe  went, 

Herbody  was  bent,. 
Wifhaload  as  heavy  as  fins  in  lent. 

'Ohlwhy  do  you  chuckle,  old  woman-,"  fays  I, 
As  y°u  climb  up  (he  hill-fide  (°  fteep  and  fo  high? 
"Becaufe, don't  you  fee, 
I'll  presently  be, 
At  fhe  top  of  this  hill.  He!  he!  "fays  fhe. 

I  faw  fhe  old  woman  go  downward  again ; 
And  Ihe  eafily  travelled, with  never  a  pain; 

Yet  the  loudly  cried , 

Andguftilyfighed, 
And  groaned,  though  the  roadwas  level  and  wide 

"Oh1,  why.my  old  woman,"  fays  I  "do  you  weep, 
When  you  laughed.as  you  climbed  up  the  hill-fide  fo 

"High-ho!  I  am  vexed,  tfeep?" 

Becaufe  I  expects " 
5aysfhe,"  Ifhall  ache  inclimbingmenext. 


ggg|| 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  5 

chance  to  ask  you  a  question  that  you  cannot  answer, 
then  I  am  to  be  my  own  man  again." 

Oh,  if  that  was  all,  the  red  man  was  quite  willing  for 
that. 

Then  he  took  Jacob's  gun,  and  blew  down  into  the 
barrel  of  it.  "Now,"  said  he,  "you  are  as  skillful  a  hunts- 
man as  you  asked  to  be." 

"That  I  must  try,"  said  Jacob.  So  Jacob  and  the  red 
one  went  around  hunting  here  and  hunting  there  until 
they  scared  up  a  hare.  "Shoot!"  said  the  red  one;  and 
Jacob  shot.  Clip!  off  flew  the  whiskers  of  the  hare  as 
neatly  as  one  could  cut  them  off  with  the  barber's  shears. 

"Yes,  good!"  said  Jacob,  "now  I  am  a  skillful  hunts- 
man." 

Then  the  stranger  in  red  gave  Jacob  a  little  bone 
whistle,  and  told  him  to  blow  in  it  whenever  he  should 
want  him.  After  that  Jacob  signed  the  paper,  and  the 
stranger  went  one  way  and  he  went  home  again. 

Well,  Jacob  brushed  the  straws  off  from  his  coat,  and 
put  a  fine  shine  on  his  boots,  and  then  he  set  off  to  the 
Herr  Mayor's  house. 

"How  do  you  find  yourself,  Jacob?"  said  the  Herr 
Mayor. 

"So  good,"  said  Jacob. 

"And  are  you  a  skillful  huntsman  now?"  said  the 
Herr  Mayor. 

Oh  yes,  Jacob  was  a  skillful  huntsman  now. 

Yes,  good !  But  the  Herr  Mayor  must  have  proof  of 
that.  Now,  could  Jacob  shoot  a  feather  out  of  the  tail 
of  the  magpie  flying  over  the  trees  yonder? 

Oh  yes!  nothing  easier  than  that.     So  Jacob  raised 


6  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

the  gun  to  his  cheek.  Bang!  went  the  gun,  and  down 
fell  a  feather  from  the  tail  of  the  magpie.  At  this  the 
Herr  Mayor  stared  and  stared,  for  he  had  never  seen 
such  shooting. 

"And  now  may  I  marry  Gretchen?"  said  Jacob. 


At  this  the  Herr  Mayor  scratched  his  head,  and 
hemmed  and  hawed.  No;  Jacob  could  not  marry  Gret- 
chen yet,  for  he  had  always  said  and  sworn  that  the  man 
who  should  marry  Gretchen  should  bring  with  him  a 
plough  that  could  go  of  itself,  and  plough  three  furrows 
at  once.     If  Jacob  would  show  him  such  a  plough  as 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  7 

that,  then  he  might  marry  Gretchen  and  welcome.  That 
was  what  the  Herr  Mayor  said. 

Jacob  did  not  know  how  about  that ;  perhaps  he  could 
get  such  a  plough,  perhaps  he  could  not.  If  such  a 
plough  was  to  be  had,  though,  he  would  have  it.  So 
off  he  went  home  again,  and  the  Herr  Mayor  thought 
that  he  was  rid  of  him  now  for  sure  and  certain. 

But  when  Jacob  had  come  home,  he  went  back  of  the 
woodpile  and  blew  a  turn  or  two  on  the  little  bone 
whistle  that  the  red  stranger  had  given  him.  No  sooner 
had  he  done  this  than  the  other  stood  before  him  as  sud- 
denly as  though  he  had  just  stepped  out  of  the  door  of 
nowheres. 

"What  do  you  want,  Jacob?"  said  he. 

"I  would  like,"  said  Jacob,  "to  have  a  plough  that 
can  go  by  itself  and  plough  three  furrows  at  once." 

"That  you  shall  have,"  said  the  red  one.  Then  he  thrust 
his  hand  into  his  breeches  pocket,  and  drew  forth  the 
prettiest  little  plough  that  you  ever  saw.  He  stood  it 
on  the  ground  before  Jacob,  and  it  grew  large  as  you 
see  it  in  the  picture.  "Plough  away,"  said  he,  and  then 
he  went  back  again  whither  he  had  come. 

So  Jacob  laid  his  hands  to  the  plough  and — whisk! — 
away  it  went  like  John  Stormwetter's  colt,  with  Jacob 
behind  it.  Out  of  the  farm-yard  they  went,  and  down 
the  road,  and  so  to  the  Herr  Mayor's  house,  and  behind 
them  lay  three  fine  brown  furrows,  smoking  in  the  sun. 

When  the  Herr  Mayor  saw  them  coming  he  opened 
his  eyes,  you  may  be  sure,  for  he  had  never  seen  such  a 
plough  as  that  in  all  of  his  life  before. 


8 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


"And  now,"  said  Jacob,  "I  should  like  to  marry 
Gretchen,  if  you  please." 

At  this  the  Herr  Mayor  hemmed  and  hawed  and 
scratched  his  head  again.  No;  Jacob  could  not  marry 
Gretchen  yet,  for  the  Herr  Mayor  had  always  said  and 
sworn  that  the  man  who  married  Gretchen  should  bring 


■*C-*t 


Jacob  •  and  -fhe-Z^Yagic  •  Plough*®.  % 


with  him  a  purse  that  always  had  two  pennies  in  it  and 
could  never  be  emptied,  no  matter  how  much  was  taken 
out  of  it. 

Jacob  did  not  know  how  about  that;  perhaps  he  could 
get  it  and  perhaps  he  could  not.  If  such  a  thing  was  to 
be  had,  though,  he  would  have  it,  as  sure  as  the  Mecklen- 
burg folks  brew  sour  beer.  So  off  he  went  home  again, 
and  the  Herr  Mayor  thought  that  now  he  was  rid  of  him 
for  certain. 

But  Jacob  went  back  of  the  woodpile  and  blew  on  his 
bone  whistle  again,  and  once  more  the  red  one  came  at 
his  bidding. 

"What  will  you  have  now?"  said  he  to  Jacob. 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  9 

"I  should  like,"  said  Jacob,  "to  have  a  purse  which 
shall  always  have  two  pennies  in  it,  no  matter  how  much 
I  take  out  of  it." 

"That  you  shall  have,"  said  the  red  one;  whereupon 
he  thrust  his  hand  into  his  pocket,  and  fetched  out  a  beau- 
tiful silken  purse  with  two  pennies  in  it.  He  gave  the 
purse  to  Jacob,  and  then  he  went  away  again  as  quickly 
as  he  had  come. 

After  he  had  gone,  Jacob  began  taking  pennies  out 
of  his  purse  and  pennies  out  of  his  purse,  until  he  had 
more  than  a  hatful — hui!  I  would  like  to  have  such  a 
purse  as  that. 

Then  he  marched  off  to  the  Herr  Mayor's  house  with 
his  chin  up,  for  he  might  hold  his  head  as  high  as  any, 
now  that  he  had  such  a  purse  as  that  in  his  pocket.  As  for 
the  Herr  Mayor,  he  thought  that  it  was  a  nice,  pretty 
little  purse;  but  could  it  do  this  and  that  as  he  had 
said? 

Jacob  would  show  him  that;  so  he  began  taking  pen- 
nies and  pennies  out  of  it,  until  he  had  filled  all  the  pots 
and  pans  in  the  house  with  them.  And  now  might  he 
marry  Gretchen? 

Yes;  that  he  might!  So  said  the  Herr  Mayor;  for 
who  would  not  like  to  have  a  lad  for  a  son-in-law  who 
always  had  two  pennies  more  in  his  purse  than  he  could 
spend. 

So  Jacob  married  his  Gretchen,  and,  between  his 
plough  and  his  purse,  he  was  busy  enough,  I  can  tell 
you. 

So  the  days  went  on  and  on  and  on  until  the  ten 


io  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

years  had  gone  by  and  the  time  had  come  for  the  red  one 
to  fetch  Jacob  away  with  him.  As  for  Jacob,  he  was  in  a 
sorry  state  of  dumps,  as  you  may  well  believe. 

At  last  Gretchen  spoke  to  him.  "See,  Jacob,"  said  she, 
"what  makes  you  so  down  in  the  mouth?" 

"Oh!  nothing  at  all,"  said  Jacob. 

But  this  did  not  satisfy  Gretchen,  for  she  could  see 
that  there  was  more  to  be  told  than  Jacob  had  spoken. 
So  she  teased  and  teased,  until  at  last  Jacob  told  her  all, 
and  that  the  red  one  was  to  come  the  next  day  and  take 
him  off  as  his  servant,  unless  he  could  ask  him  a  question 
which  he  could  not  answer. 

"Prut!"  said  Gretchen,  "and  is  that  all?  Then  there 
is  no  stuffing  to  that  sausage,  for  I  can  help  you  out  of 
your  trouble  easily  enough."  Then  she  told  Jacob  that 
when  the  next  day  should  come  he  should  do  thus  and  so, 
and  she  would  do  this  and  that,  and  between  them  they 
might  cheat  the  red  one  after  all. 

So,  when  the  next  day  came,  Gretchen  went  into 
the  pantry  and  smeared  herself  all  over  with  honey. 
Then  she  ripped  open  a  bed  and  rolled  herself  in  the 
feathers. 

By-and-by  came  the  red  one.  Rap !  tap !  tap !  he  knocked 
at  the  door. 

"Are  you  ready  to  go  with  me  now,  Jacob?"  said  he. 

Yes;  Jacob  was  quite  ready  to  go,  only  he  would  like 
to  have  one  favor  granted  him  first. 

"What  is  it  that  you  want?"  said  the  red  one. 
"Only  this,"  said  Jacob:  "I  would  like  to  shoot  one 
more  shot  out  of  my  old  gun  before  I  go  with  you." 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


n 


Oh,  if  that  was  all,  he  might  do  that  and  welcome. 
So  Jacob  took  down  his  gun,  and  he  and  the  red  one  went 
out  together,  walking  side  by  side,  for  all  the  world  as 
though  they  were  born  brothers. 


cx= 


By-and-by  they  saw  a  wren.  "Shoot  at  that,"  said  the 
red  one. 

"Oh  no,"  said  Jacob,  "that  is  too  small." 

So  they  went  on  a  little  farther. 

By-and-by  they  saw  a  raven.  "Shoot  at  that,  then," 
said  the  red  one. 

"Oh  no,"  said  Jacob,  "that  is  too  black." 


12  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

So  they  went  on  a  little  farther. 

By-and-by  they  came  to  a  ploughed  field,  and  there  was 
something  skipping  over  the  furrows  that  looked  for  all 
the  world  like  a  great  bird.  That  was  Gretchen;  for  the 
feathers  stuck  to  the  honey  and  all  over  her,  so  that  she 
looked  just  like  a  great  bird. 

"Shoot  at  that!  shoot  at  that!"  said  the  red  one,  clap- 
ping his  hands  together. 

"Oh  yes,"  said  Jacob,  "I  will  shoot  at  that."  So  he 
raised  his  gun  and  took  aim.  Then  he  lowered  his  gun 
again.    "But  what  is  it?"  said  he. 

At  this  the  red  one  screwed  up  his  eyes,  and  looked 
and  looked,  but  for  the  life  of  him  he  could  not  tell  what 
it  was. 

"No  matter  what  it  is,"  Said  he,  "only  shoot  and  be  done 
with  it,  for  I  must  be  going." 

"Yes,  good!    But  what  is  it?"  said  Jacob. 

Then  the  red  one  looked  and  looked  again,  but  he 
could  tell  no  better  this  time  than  he  could  before.  "It 
may  be  this  and  it  may  be  that,"  said  he.  "Only  shoot 
and  be  done  with  it,  for  they  are  waiting  for  me  at 
home." 

"Yes,  my  friend,"  said  Jacob,  "that  is  all  very  good; 
only  tell  me  what  it  is  and  I  will  shoot." 

"Thunder  and  lightning!"  bawled  the  red  one,  "I  do 
not  know  what  it  is!" 

"Then  be  off  with  you!"  said  Jacob,  "for,  since  you 
cannot  answer  my  question,  all  is  over  between  us 
two." 

At  this  the  red  one  had  to  leave  Jacob,  so  he  fled  away 
over  hill  and  dale,  bellowing  like  a  bull. 


news- 
paper- 


1  welve  geefo 
Iruarow 
(Sofhefe 
Always  go). 
Down«Kill 
They  meander, 
Tail  to  bill; 
Kirft  "the  gander. 
5°  fheyftalked, 
Bold  as  brafs , 
As  fhey  walked 
To  fhe  grafs. 

Suddenly 
Stopped  fhefhrong; 
Plain  to  fee 
Somefhing's  -wrong 
"Yes -,  there  is 
Something  white! 
N°  quiz  ; 
Clear  to  fight. 
C'Twill  amufe 
"When  you're  told 
"Twa(  a  news  - 
Paper  old.) 

Gander  fpoke. 
Braver  bird 
Never  broke 
Egg,Pve  heard : 


"Wind  came 
Wifhacaper, 
Caught  fame 
Daily  paper. 

Up  it  failed 
Infheair; 
Courage  failed 
Then  and  there . 

5  cared  well 
Out  of -wits; 
Nearly  fell 
Into  fits. 

Offfheyfped, 
Helter^/kelter, 
'Till  they'd  fled 
Under  /heller. 

Poorgee/e! 
Nevermind; 
Other  geete 
Onecanfind, 
Cutfhe  fame 
Fooli/hcaper 
At  empty  wind 
In  a  paper. 

•H-Pyle. 


Y\.  merry  young  fhoemaker, 
Andatai]or,and  abaker,  ^'.VA 

Went  t°  feek  their  fortunes,  for  fhey  hadbeentold, 
Where  a  rainbow  touchedjfhe ground , 
(If  it  only  could  befound,) 
Wa>  a  purfe  that  fhould  be  alwayi  fuilof gold, 


ff 


5°  fhey  traveled  day  by  day, 

Ina  jolly,  jocund -way 
Till  fhe  fhoemaker  a  pretty  lass-espied} 

\JChen  quofh  he,"ItfeemSTtomej 

There  can  never, never  be, 
BetterJuck  than  this  inali  the-world  beC.de." 


fag 


e  Tailor's 


jINNP 


So  the  ofhers-taiiJ  good-bye- 
And  went  on,till  by-and- 

They  espied  a  (nadyinnbefld 
■Where  the  Hofiefs  fail 
In  a. lone  feclufjon hid. 

Here  ii  luck  !"fhe  taLhr-faid  i 


by 

rfhe-'WHy 


if 


So  fhe  baker  j ogged  along , 
All  alone  .with  ne'era/o 

Orajcflj  and  nothing  tempted 

But  he  went  from,  bad  toworfe,' 
F°r  he  never  found  fhe-purfo, 

And  for  alH  know  he)}  •wandering  1 

It  it  better,onrhe~whoIe, 
F°r  an  ord  i  nary  foul, 
(5oT  gather  from  this  (ong  I 'vo  trii 

&rt°take  me  luck  that  rasy 
ance  to  fall  within  his 
I  for  an  imaginary 


(fopA'-  **M  t 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


13 


As  for  Jacob  and  Gretchen,  they  went  back  home 
together,  very  well  pleased  with  each  other  and  them- 
selves. 


And  the  meaning  of  all  this  is,  that  many  another 
man  beside  Jacob  Boehm  would  find  him- 
self in  a  pretty  scrape  only  for  his  wife. 


S^StjssTSwu/vgi^' 


CLAU6-<p>-HIS'W°NDERF(JL-STAI 


H 


'ANS  and  Claus  were  born 
brothers.  Hans  was  the  elder 
and  Claus  was  the  younger;  Hans 
was  the  richer  and  Claus  was  the 
poorer — that  is  the  way  that  the  world  goes  sometimes. 

Everything  was  easy  for  Hans  at  home ;  he  drank  much 
beer,  and  had  sausages  and  white  bread  three  times  a  day; 
but  Claus  worked  and  worked,  and  no  luck  came  of  it — 
that,  also,  is  the  way  that  the  world  goes  sometimes. 

One  time  Claus  spoke  to  Hans  of  this  matter.  "See, 
Hans,"  said  he,  "you  should  give  me  some  money,  for 
that  which  belongs  to  one  brother  should  help  the  other." 

But  Hans  saw  through  different  colored  spectacles 
than  Claus.  No;  he  would  do  nothing  of  the  kind.  If 
Claus  wanted  money  he  had  better  go  out  into  the  world 
to  look  for  it;  for  some  folks  said  that  money  was  rolling 
about  in  the  wide  world  like  peas  on  a  threshing-floor.  So 
said  Hans,  for  Claus  was  so  poor  that  Hans  was  ashamed 
of  him,  and  wanted  him  to  leave  home  so  as  to  be  rid  of 
him  for  good  and  all. 

This  was  how  Claus  came  to  go  out  into  the  world. 

But  before  he  went,  he  cut  himself  a  good  stout  staff  of 
hazel-wood  to  help  his  heavy  feet  over  the  road. 


H 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  15 

Now  the  staff  that  Claus  had  cut  was  a  rod  of  witch- 
hazel,  which  has  the  power  of  showing  wherever  treasure 
lies  buried.  But  Claus  knew  no  more  of  that  than  the 
chick  in  the  shell. 

So  off  he  went  into  the  world,  walking  along  with 
great  contentment,  kicking  up  little  clouds  of  dust  at  every 
step,  and  whistling  as  gayly  as  though  trouble  had  never 
been  hatched  from  mares'  eggs.  By-and-by  he  came  to  the 
great  town,  and  then  he  went  to  the  market-place  and 
stood,  with  many  others,  with  a  straw  in  his  mouth — for 
that  meant  that  he  wanted  to  take  service  with  somebody. 

Presently  there  came  along  an  old,  old  man,  bent 
almost  double  with  the  weight  of  the  years  which  he  car- 
ried upon  his  shoulders.  This  was  a  famous  doctor  of 
the  black-arts.  He  had  read  as  many  as  a  hundred  books, 
so  that  he  was  more  learned  than  any  man  in  all  of  the 
world — even  the  minister  of  the  village.  He  knew,  as  well 
as  the  birds  know  when  the  cherries  are  ripe,  that  Claus 
had  a  stick  of  witch-hazel,  so  he  came  to  the  market-place, 
peering  here  and  peering  there,  just  as  honest  folks  do 
when  they  are  looking  for  a  servant.  After  a  while  he 
came  to  where  Claus  was,  and  then  he  stopped  in  front  of 
him.    "Do  you  want  to  take  service,  my  friend?"  said  he. 

Yes,  that  was  what  Claus  wanted;  why  else  should  he 
stand  in  the  market-place  with  a  straw  in  his  mouth? 

Well,  they  bargained  and  bargained,  and  talked  and 
talked,  and  the  end  of  the  matter  was  that  Claus  agreed  to 
sell  his  services  to  the  old  master  of  black-arts  for  seven 
pennies  a  week.  So  they  made  their  bargain,  and  off 
went  the  master  with  Claus  at  his  heels.    After  they  had 


16 


A  tailor  came  a-walking  hy, 
"The  fire  of  courage  inhiseye. 
""Where  are  you  g°ing, fir?"  Said  I- 


"  I  slew  a.m°ufe 
Incur  houfe, 
Where  ofher  tailors  live  ,"  faidhe, 
"And  not  a  Jack 
Among  fhe  pack 
^^ould  dare  todofhe  like;  pardie! 
Therefore, I'm  going  °uLt°  try 
If  fhere  be  greater  menfha.nl; 
Or  in  fbie  land 
As  bold  a  hand 
At  wielding  brand  as  I, you  fee!" 

The  tailor  came  a-Iimplng  by 
Wifh  w°ful  face  and  clofhes  awry 
And  all  his  courage  gone  to  pie  . 

"I  met  a  knight 
In  armor  bright, 
And  bade  him  fland  and  draw/'faid  he 
"He  rtraightway  did 
As  he  was  bid, 
And  treated  me  outrageously. 
Jol  fhallget  me  home  again, 
And  probably  fhall  fhere  remain. 
A  little  man,, 
5ir,  always  can 
Begreat  wifhfol  k°f  lefi  decree!" 


I'll  tell  ofacertain  old  dame; 

The  fame 
Had  abeautifiil  piggy, whpfename^ 
Wai  Jarne- 
-J;  and  whose  beauty  andworfh  J 
Fromfhe  day  of  his  birfh, 
"Were  matters  of  popular  fame, 

Andhis  claim 
To  gentility  no  one  could  blame . 


So,  feeing  his  pr°mife  ,fhe  thought 

She  ought 
T°  have  him  fufficiently  taught 
The  art 
Of  deportment ,  to  go 
Into  company  ;  fo 
Amaflerofdancing  (he brought, 

"Who was  fraught 
With  a  rtyte  which  the.  piggiwig  caught 


S°  his  company  manners  were  rare 

Hb  care 
Of/ocial  obfervances'  (here 
Would  bear 
Thcclofefl  Infpection, 
And  net  a  re /lection 
Could  reft  on  his  actions, howe'er 

"You  might  care 
To  ex  amine  lem  down  to  a  hair. 


Now, things  went  beau-ti-ful-ly, 

Till  he 
Fell  inlovewjfhadame  °f  degree; 
Pardie! 
When  he  tried  fortofp&ak, 
^  But  could  only  fay"0  W-e-e-k!"" 
Tor  whatever  his  polifh  might  be, 

Why,  dear  me! 
He  was  pig  at  the  bottom  ,youfee. 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  17 

come  a  little  distance  away  from  the  crowd  at  the  market- 
place, the  master  of  black-arts  asked  Claus  where  he  had 
got  that  fine  staff  of  hazel. 

"Oh,  I  got  it  over  yonder,"  said  Claus,  pointing  with 
his  thumb. 

But  could  he  find  the  place  again? 

Well,  Claus  did  not  know  how  about  that;  perhaps 
he  could,  and  perhaps  he  could  not. 

But  suppose  that  Claus  had  a  thaler  in  his  hand,  then 
could  he  find  the  place  again? 

Oh  yes;  in  that  case  Claus  was  almost  sure  that  he 
could  find  the  place  again. 

So  good.  Then  here  was  a  bottle  of  yellow  water.  If 
Claus  would  take  the  bottle  of  yellow  water,  and  pour 
it  over  the  stump  from  which  he  had  cut  his  staff,  there 
would  come  seven  green  snakes  out  of  a  hole  at  the  foot 
of  the  hazel-bush.  After  these  seven  snakes,  there  would 
come  a  white  snake,  with  a  golden  crown  on  its  head, 
from  out  of  the  same  hole.  Now  if  Claus  would  catch 
that  white  snake  in  the  empty  bottle,  and  bring  it  to  the 
master  of  black-arts,  he  should  have  not  one  thaler,  but 
two — that  was  what  the  master  said. 

Oh  yes,  Claus  could  do  that;  that  was  no  such  hard 
thing.  So  he  took  the  bottle  of  yellow  water  and  off 
he  went. 

By-and-by  he  came  to  the  place  where  he  had  cut  his 
hazel-twig.  There  he  did  as  the  master  of  black-arts  had 
told  him;  he  poured  the  yellow  water  over  the  stump  of 
hazel  from  which  he  had  cut  his  staff.  Then  everything 
happened  just  as  the  other  had  said:  first  there  came  seven 
green  snakes  out  of  the  hole  at  the  foot  of  the  hazel-bush, 


i8 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


and  after  they  had  all  gone,  there  came  a  white  snake, 
with  a  little  golden  crown  on  its  head,  and  with  its  body 
gleaming  like  real  silver.  Then  Claus  caught  the  white 
snake,  and  put  it  into  the  bottle  and  corked  it  up  tightly. 
After  he  had  done  this  he  went  back  to  the  master  of  black- 
arts  again. 

Now  this  white  snake  was  what  the  folk  call  a  tomt- 
snake  in  that  land.  Whoever  eats  of  a  broth  made  of  it 
can  understand  the  language  of  all  the  birds  of  the  air  and 
all  the  beasts  of  the  field ;  so  nobody  need  wonder  that  the 
master  was  as  glad  as  glad  could  be  to  have  his  white 
snake  safe  and  sound. 

He  bade  Claus  build  a 
fire   of   dry  wood,   and   as 
soon  as  there  was  a  good 
blaze  he  set  a  pot  of  water 
upon  it  to  boil.    When  the 
water  in  the  pot  began  to 
boil,    he    chopped    up    the 
white      snake      into      little 
pieces  and  threw  them  into 
it.    So  the  snake  boiled  and 
boiled     and     boiled,     and 
Claus   stared  with  wonder 
as    though     he    would    never     shut    his    eyes    again. 
Now  it  happened  that  just  about  the  time  that  the  broth 
was  cooked,  the  master  was  called  out  of  the  room  for 
this  or  for  that.     No  sooner  was  his  back  turned  than 
Claus  began  to  wonder  what  the  broth  was  like.    "I  will 
just  have  a  little  taste,"  said  he  to  himself;  "surely  it  can 
do  no  harm  to  the  rest  of  the  soup."     So  he  stuck  his 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  19 

finger  first  into  the  broth  and  then  into  his  mouth;  but 
what  the  broth  tasted  like  he  never  could  tell,  for  just  then 
the  master  came  in  again,  and  Claus  was  so  frightened 
at  what  he  had  done  that  he  had  no  wits  to  think  of  the 
taste  of  anything. 

Presently  the  master  of  black-arts  went  to  the  pot  of 
broth,  and,  taking  off  the  lid,  began  smelling  of  it.  But  no 
sooner  had  he  sniffed  a  smell  of  the  steam  than  he  began 
thumping  his  head  with  his  knuckles,  and  tearing  his 
hair,  and  stamping  his  feet.  "Somebody's  had  a  finger 
in  my  broth!  !  !"  he  roared.  For  the  master  knew  at  once 
that  all  the  magic  had  been  taken  out  of  it  by  the  touch  of 
Claus's  finger. 

As  for  poor  Claus,  he  was  so  frightened  that  he  fell 
upon  his  knees,  and  began  begging:  "Oh!  dear  master- — " 
But  he  got  no  further  than  this,  for  the  master  bawled 
at  him, 

"You  have  taken  the  best, 
You  may  have  the  rest." 

And  so  saying,  he  threw  pot  and  broth  and  all  at 
Claus,  so  that  if  he  hadn't  ducked  his  head  he  might  have 
been  scalded  to  death.  Then  Claus  ran  out  into  the  street, 
for  he  saw  that  there  was  no  place  for  him  to  stay  in  that 
house. 

Now  in  the  street  there  was  a  cock  and  a  hen,  scratch- 
ing and  clucking  together  in  the  dust,  and  Claus  under- 
stood every  word  that  they  said  to  each  other,  so  he  stopped 
and  listened  to  them. 

This  is  what  they  said: 


20 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


The  cock  said  to  the  hen,  "Yonder  goes  our  new  serv- 
ing-man." 

And  the  hen  said  to  the  cock,  "Yes,  yonder  he  goes." 
And  the  cock  said  to  the  hen,  "He  is  leaving  the  best 
behind  him." 


THE-AA5TER- I J-ANCKY 


And  the  hen  said  to  the  cock,  "What  is  it  that  he  is 
leaving?" 

And  the  cock  said  to  the  hen,  "He  is  leaving  behind 
him  the  witch-hazel  staff  that  he  brought  with  him." 

And  the  hen  said  to  the  cock,  "Yes,  that  is  so.     He 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


21 


would  be  a  fool  to  leave  that  behind,  yet  he  is  not  the 
first  one  to  think  that  peas  are  pebbles." 

As  for  Claus,  you  can  guess  how  he  opened  his  eyes, 
for  he  saw  how  the  land  lay, 
and  that  he  had  other  ears 
than  he  had  before. 

"Hui!"  said  he,  "that  is 
good!  I  have  bought  more 
for  my  penny  than  I  had  in 
my  bargain." 

As  for  the  hazel  staff,  he 
was  not  going  to  leave  that 
behind,  you  may  be  sure.  So 
he  sneaked  about  the  place 
till  he  laid  hand  on  it  again ; 
then  he  stepped  away,  right 
foot  foremost,  for  he  did  not 
know  what  the  master  of 
black-arts  might  do  to  him 
if  he  should  catch  him. 

Well,  after  he  had  left 
the  town,  he  went  along, 
tramp !  tramp !  tramp !  until, 
by-and-by,  he  grew  tired 
and  sat  down  beneath  an 
oak-tree  to  rest  himself. 

Now,  as  he  sat  there, 
looking  up  through  the  leaves,  thinking  of  nothing  at  all, 
two  ravens  came  flying  and  lit  in  the  tree  above  him. 
After  a  while  the  ravens  began  talking  together,  and  this 
was  what  they  said: 


22  PEPPER  AND  SALT 


The  one  raven  said,  "Yonder  is  poor  Claus  sitting  be- 
low us." 

And  the  other  raven  said,  "Poor  Claus,  did  you  say, 
brother?  Do  you  not  see  the  witch-hazel  lying  on  the 
ground  beside  him?" 

The  one  raven  said,  "Oh  yes;  I  see  that,  but  what  good 
does  it  do  him?" 

And  the  other  raven  said,  "It  does  him  no  good  now, 
but  if  he  were  to  go  home  again  and  strike  on  the  great 
stone  on  the  top  of  the  hill  back  of  Herr  Axel's  house, 
then  it  would  do  him  good;  for  in  it  lies  a  great  treasure 
of  silver  and  gold." 

Claus  had  picked  up  his  ears  at  all  this  talk,  you  may 
be  sure.  "See,"  said  he,  "that  is  the  way  that  a  man  will 
pass  by  a  great  fortune  in  the  little  world  at  home  to  seek 
for  a  little  fortune  in  the  great  world  abroad" — which  was 
all  very  true.  After  that  he  lost  no  time  in  getting  back 
home  again. 

"What!  are  you  back  again?"  said  Hans. 

"Oh  yes,"  said  Claus,  "I  am  back  again." 

"That  is  always  the  way  with  a  pewter  penny,"  said 
Hans — for  that  is  how  some  of  us  are  welcomed  home 
after  we  have  been  away. 

As  for  Claus,  he  was  as  full  of  thoughts  as  an  egg  is  of 
meat,  but  he  said  nothing  of  them  to  Hans.  Off  he  went 
to  the  high  hill  back  of  Herr  Axel's  house,  and  there,  sure 
enough,  was  the  great  stone  at  the  very  top  of  the  hill. 

Claus  struck  on  the  stone  with  his  oaken  staff,  and  it 
opened  like  the  door  of  a  beer  vault,  for  all  was  blackness 
within.  A  flight  of  steps  led  down  below,  and  down  the 
steps  Claus  went.    But  when  he  had  come  to  the  bottom 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


23 


of  the  steps,  he  stared  till  his  eyes  were  like  great  round 
saucers;  for  there  stood  sacks  of  gold  and  silver,  piled 
up  like  bags  of  grain  in  the  malt-house. 

At  one  end  of  the  room  was  a  great  stone  seat,  and 
on  the  seat  sat  a  little  manikin  smoking  a  pipe.    As  for 


the  beard  of  the  little  man,  it  was  as  long  as  he  was  short, 
for  it  hung  down  so  far  that  part  of  it  touched  the  stone 
floor. 

"How  do  you  find  yourself,  Claus?"  said  the  little 
manikin,  calling  Claus  by  his  name. 

"So  good!"  said  Claus,  taking  off  his  hat  to  the  other. 

"And  what  would  you  like  to  have,  Claus?"  said  the 
little  man. 


24  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

"I  would  like,"  said  Claus,  "to  have  some  money,  if 
you  please." 

"Take  what  you  want,"  said  the  little  man,  "only  do 
not  forget  to  take  the  best  with  you." 

Oh  no;  Claus  would  not  forget  the  best;  so  he  held  the 
staff  tighter  than  ever  in  his  fist — for  what  could  be  better 
than  the  staff  that  brought  him  there?  So  he  went  here 
and  there,  filling  his  pockets  with  the  gold  and  silver 
money  till  they  bulged  out  like  the  pockets  of  a  thief  in 
the  orchard;  but  all  the  time  he  kept  tight  hold  of  his  staff, 
I  can  tell  you. 

When  he  had  as  much  as  his  pockets  could  hold,  he 
thanked  the  little  manikin  and  went  his  way,  and  the  stone 
door  closed  behind  him. 

And  now  Claus  lived  like  a  calf  in  the  green  corn-field. 
Everything  he  had  was  of  the  best,  and  he  had  twice  as 
much  of  that  as  any  of  the  neighbors.  Then  how  brother 
Hans  stared  and  scratched  his  head  and  wondered,  when 
he  saw  how  Claus  sat  in  the  sun  all  day,  doing  noth- 
ing but  smoking  his  pipe  and  eating  of  the  best,  as 
though  he  were  a  born  prince  !|  Every  day  Claus  went 
to  the  little  man  in  the  hill  with  his  pockets  empty,  and 
came  back  with  them  stuffed  with  gold  and  silver  money. 
At  last  he  had  so  much  that  he  could  not  count  it,  and 
so  he  had  to  send  over  to  brother  Hans  for  his  quart- 
pot,  so  that  he  might  measure  it. 

But  Hans  was  cunning.  "I  will  see  what  makes 
brother  Claus  so  well-off  in  the  world  all  of  a  sudden," 
said  he;  so  he  smeared  the  inside  of  the  quart-pot  with 
bird-lime. 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


25 


Then  Claus  measured  his  gold  and  silver  money  in 
Hans's  quart-pot,  and  when  he  was  done  with  it  he  sent 
it  back  again.  But  more  went  back  with  the  quart-pot 
than  came  with  it,  for  two  gold-pieces  stuck  to  the  bird- 
lime, and  it  was  these  that  went  back  with  the  pot  to 
brother  Hans. 

"What!"  cried  Hans,  "has 
that  stupid  Claus  found  so 
much  money  that  he  has  to 
measure  it  in  a  quart-pot? 
We  must  see  the  inside  of  this 
business!"  So  off  he  went  to 
Claus's  house,  and  there  he 
found  Claus  sitting  in  the  sun 
and  smoking  his  pipe,  just  as 
though  he  owned  all  of  the 
world. 

"Where  did  you  get  all  that 
money,  Claus?"  said  Hans. 

Oh!  Claus  could  not  tell 
him  that. 

But  Hans  was  bound  to 
know  all  about  it,  so  he 
begged  and  begged  so  prettily 
that  at  last  Claus  had  to  tell 
him  everything.  Then,  of  course,  nothing  would  do  but 
Hans  must  have  a  try  with  the  hazel  staff  also. 

Well,  Claus  made  no  words  at  that.  He  was  a  good- 
natured  fellow,  and  surely  there  was  enough  for  both. 
So  the  upshot  of  the  matter  was  that  Hans  marched  off 
with  the  hazel  staff. 


26  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

But  Hans  was  no  such  simpleton  as  Claus;  no,  not 
he.  Oh  no,  he  would  not  take  all  that  trouble  for  two 
poor  pocketfuls  of  money.  He  would  have  a  bagful ;  no, 
he  would  have  two  bagfuls.  So  he  slung  two  meal  sacks 
over  his  shoulder,  and  off  he  started  for  the  hill  back 
of  Herr  Axel's  house. 

When  he  came  t©  the  stone  he  knocked  upon  it,  and 
it  opened  to  him  just  as  it  had  done  for  Claus.  Down 
he  went  into  the  pit,  and  there  sat  the  little  old  manikin, 
just  as  he  had  done  from  the  very  first. 

"How  do  you  find  yourself,  Hans?"  said  the  little  old 
manikin. 

Oh,  Hans  found  himself  very  well.  Might  he  have 
some  of  the  money  that  stood  around  the  room  in  the 
sacks? 

Yes,  that  he  might;  only  remember  to  take  the  best 
away  with  him. 

Prut!  teach  a  dog  to  eat  sausages.  Hans  would  see 
that  he  took  the  best,  trust  him  for  that.  So  he  filled  the 
bags  full  of  gold,  and  never  touched  the  silver — for, 
surely,  gold  is  better  than  anything  else  in  the  world, 
says  Hans  to  himself.  So,  when  he  had  filled  his  two 
bags  with  gold,  and  had  shaken  the  pieces  well  down, 
he  flung  the  one  over  one  shoulder,  and  the  other 
over  the  other,  and  then  he  had  as  much  as  he  could 
carry.  As  for  the  staff  of  witch-hazel,  he  let  it  lie 
where  it  was,  for  he  only  had  two  hands  and  they  were 
both  full. 

But  Hans  never  got  his  two  bags  of  gold  away  from 
the  vault,  for  just  as  he  was  leaving — bang!  came  the 
stone  together,  and  caught  him  as  though  he  was  a  mouse 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  27 

in  the  door;  and  that  was  an  end  of  him.     That  hap- 
pened because  he  left  the  witch-hazel  behind. 

That  was  the  way  in  which  Claus  came  to  lose  his 
magic  staff;  but  that  did  not  matter  much,  for  he  had 
enough  to  live  on  and  to  spare.  So  he  married  the  daugh- 
ter of  the  Herr  Baron  (for  he  might  marry  whom  he 
chose,  now  that  he  was  rich),  and  after  that  he  lived  as 
happy  as  a  fly  on  the  warm  chimney. 

Now,  this  is  so — it  is  better  to  take  a  little  away  at  a 

time  and  carry  your  staff  with  you,  than 

to  take  all  at  once  and  leave  it  behind. 


w 


ow-Dame-T^argeTy-  Twist-  saw- 
more- .  fhan-  was- good-  for.  her. 


I 


F  one  could  always  hold  one's 
tongue  as  to  what  one  sees,  one 
would  be  the  better  for  it.  They  are  the  wise  people  of 
this  world  who  keep  silence  as  to  what  they  see;  many 
such  there  are  who  behold  things  such  as  neither  you  n<or 
I  may  ever  hope  to  look  upon,  and  yet  we  know  nothing 
of  this  because  they  say  nothing  of  it,  going  their  own 
ways  like  common  folks,  and  as  though  they  saw  nothing 
in  an  egg  but  the  meat. 

Dame  Margery  Twist  of  Tavistock  town  was  not 
one  of  these  wise  folks  who  hold  their  tongues;  she 
was  a  good,  gossiping,  chattering  old  soul,  whose  hen 
never  hatched  a  chick  but  all  of  the  neighbors  knew  of 
it,  as  the  saying  goes.  The  poor  old  creature  had  only 
one  eye;  how  she  lost  the  other  you  shall  presently  hear, 
and  also  how  her  wonderful  tulip  garden  became  like 
anybody  else's  tulip  garden. 

Dame  Margery  Twist  lived  all  alone  with  a  great 
tabby  cat.  She  dwelt  in  a  little  cottage  that  stood  back 
from  the  road,  and  just  across  the  way  from  the  butcher's 
shop.  All  within  was  as  neat  and  as  bright  as  a  new 
pin,  so  that  it  was  a  delight  just  to  look  upon  the  row 


2& 


PEPPLA  AND  SALT  29 

of  blue  dishes  upon  the  dresser,  the  pewter  pipkins  as 
bright  as  silver,  or  the  sanded  floor,  as  clean  as  your 
mother's  table.  Over  the  cottage  twined  sweet  wood- 
bines, so  that  the  air  was  ladened  with  their  fragrance  in 
the  summer-time,  when  the  busy,  yellow-legged  bees 
droned  amid  the  blossoms  from  the  two  hives  that  stood 
along  against  the  wall.  But  the  wonder  of  the  garden 
was  the  tulip  bed,  for  there  were  no  tulips  in  all  England 
like  them,  and  folks  came  from  far  and  near,  only  to 
look  upon  'hem  and  to  smell  their  fragrance.  They 
stood  in  double  rows,  and  were  of  all  colors — white, 
yellow,  red,  purple,  and  pied.  They  bloomed  early, 
and  lasted  later  than  any  others,  and,  when  they  were 
in  flower,  all  the  air  was  filled  with  their  perfume. 

Now  all  of  these  things  happened  before  the  smoke 
of  the  factories  and  the  rattling  of  the  steam-cars  had 
driven  the  fairy  folks  away  from  this  world  into  No- 
man's-land,  and  this  was  the  secret  of  the  dame's  fine 
tulip  bed.  For  the  fairies  dwelt  among  the  flowers, 
and  she  often  told  her  gossips  how  that  she  could  hear 
the  fairy  mothers  singing  their  babies  to  sleep  at  night, 
when  the  moon  was  full  and  the  evening  was  warm. 
She  had  never  seen  the  little  folks  herself,  for  few  folks 
are  given  to  look  upon  them,  and  Dame  Margery's 
eyes  were  not  of  that  nature.  Nevertheless,  she  heard 
them,  and  that,  in  my  opinion,  is  the  next  best  thing  to 
seeing  them. 

Dame  Margery  'Twist,  as  I  said,  was  a  good,  kind, 
comfortable  old  soul,  and  was,  moreover,  the  best  nurse 
in  all  of  Tavistock  town.    Was  any  one  ill,  it  was  Dame 


30 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


Margery  who  was  called  upon  to  attend  him;  as  for 
the  dame  herself,  she  was  always  ready  to  bring  a  sick 
body  into  good  health  again,  and  was  always  paid  well 
for  the  nursing. 

One  evening  the  dame  was  drinking  her  tea  by  herself 


with  great  comfort.  It  was  just  at  the  dusking  of  the 
twilight;  the  latticed  window  was  opened,  so  that  the 
little  breezes  came  rushing  into  the  room,  or  stayed  a 
while  to  play  wantonly  with  the  white  linen  curtains. 
The  tabby  cat  was  purring  in  the  door-way,  and  the  dame 
was  enjoying  the  sweetness  of  the  summer-time.     There 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  31 

came  a  knock  at  the  door.  "Who  is  it?"  said  Dame 
Margery. 

"It's  Tommy  Lamb,  if  you  please,  ma'am,"  said  a 
little  voice. 

"Come  in,  Tommy,"  said  the  dame. 

So  in  came  Tommy  Lamb,  a  little,  curly-headed  fel- 
low, not  any  older  than  you.  "What  is  it  you  want, 
Tommy?"  said  the  dame. 

"If  you  please,  ma'am,  there's  a  little  gentleman  out- 
side, no  taller  than  I  be;  he  gave  me  this  box,  and  told 
me  to  tell  you  to  rub  your  eyes  with  the  salve  and  then 
to  come  out  to  him." 

The  dame  looked  out  of  the  window,  but  never  a  body 
stood  there  that  she  could  see.  "Where  is  the  gentle- 
man, dearie?"  said  she. 

"Yonder  he  is,  with  a  great  white  horse  standing 
beside  him,"  said  Tommy  Lamb,  and  he  pointed  with 
his  finger  as  he  spoke. 

The  dame  rubbed  her  eyes  and  looked  again,  but 
never  a  thing  did  she  see  but  the  green  gate,  the  lilac- 
bushes,  and  the  butcher's  shop  opposite.  The  truth  of 
the  matter  is,  that  little  children  like  you,  my  dear,  see 
things  which  we  grown  folks,  with  the  dust  of  the  world 
in  our  eyes,  may  never  behold.  "Well,"  said  Dame 
Margery  to  herself,  "this  is  strange,  for  sure!  I  see  no 
little  old  gentleman  in  green."  Then  she  opened  the  box 
that  she  held,  and  looked  into  it  and  saw  that  it  was 
filled  with  a  green  salve.  "I'll  rub  some  of  it  on  my 
eyes,  at  any  rate,"  said  she ;  whereupon  she  did  so.  Then 
she  looked  again,  and,  lo  and  behold!  there  stood  a 
little  old  man,  no  taller  than  Tommy  Lamb.     His  face 


32 


rosrliilP5^ 


Y^TPSMPH 


One- old  maid, 
And  anofher  °ld  maid, 
Andanofheroldmaid-fhat's  fhree- 
Andfhey  were.agoffiping,I  am  afraid, 
Ai  they  fat  Tipping  fhairte-a . 

Z 

They  talked °f  mis, 
And  fhey  talked  °ffhat, 

lnfheufual  goffiping  way 
ntil  everybody  'was  black  as  yourhat, 

And  fhe°nly  °nes  white  were  fhey. 


„ .....»*"'  _ 


f^Ww^iTnSm»»gnHifiifiiin\i\niii\iMi  mj|]jini'ii/i/y#n^/w//^//?/ffif;j/' 


tmntw+L 


VICTIM 

SCIENCE../0 

Thre  were  two  wise  phyjlc/anj  once, of  glory  and  renown, 
Whowent  to  take  a  little  walk  nigh.famous  Concord  town. 
Oh!  very^ery  great  and  wise  and  learned  men  were  (hly, 
And  wiseandlearnedwasfr>r  falk.as  they  walked  on  fhr  way. 
And  as  mey  walked,and  talkedand  talked.fney  came  towhr6  (hey 
A  Crow  as  black  as  any  hat;  a-sltting  on  y e  ground .  found 

Ye  Crow  was  very,  very  sick,  as  you  mayquickly  see 
Byjust  looking  at  y6  picture  fh*  is  drawn  hre  by  rue. 
Nowwhn  yc  doctors  came  to  him  they  mended  of  ft/  pace, 
And  said  oneuntoye  omer,"Hrc's  an  interesting  case  > 
Acasefh*  shIdbe  treated,and  be  treated  speedily. 
Ihave-yes.hereitij-aplll  fhl  has  been  made  by  me. 
Now,  I  have  had  occasion — "  Said  ^ofher'In  most  cases 
Yourpills  are  excellently  good,but  n°,myfriend,are  traces 
Ofa  lassitude^  Iangtt°r,mt  your  pills  c&  hardly  aid; 
In  short,fheyreramerviofentforfhs,Iam  afraid^ 
/  have  a  tincture— "Saidy6first,"Ydur  tincture  cannot  touch 
A  case  a  s  difficult  as  fh' » my  pills  are  better,  much ." 
"YourpilIs,slr,are  too  violent."  "Your  tonic  is  too  weak." 
"As Ihave 5ald.,slr,Infh5  case-" "Permit me,sir,to speak? 
And  s° fheyarguecf  long  and  high, and on,and°n, andon, 
Until  fhey  iojt  their  tempers ,  andanhour  or  m°re  had  gone. 
But  bng  before fheirarguments  ye question  did  decide, 
Jjj  YeCrow,  n°twalting  fop  y«end,  incontinently  died 

YE  T^ORAL 

C  //    apparent  .  ~) 


fffffffff"ii"''''''"""''"""""'|M,"""||||||i"i''"''"ini»iv^^uvuinl-)iniffly 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  33 

was  as  brown,  and  as  withered,  and  as  wrinkled  as  a 
winter's  crab-apple  left  on  the  bare  tree  when  the  frost 
is  about.  He  was  dressed  all  in  green  from  top  to  toe, 
and  on  his  head  was  a  tall  green  cap,  with  a  bell  at  the 
peak,  which  tinkled  at  every  movement  of  his  head.  By 
his  side  stood  a  great,  tall,  milk-white  horse,  with  a  long 
tail  and  mane  tied  with  party-colored  ribbons. 

Dame  Margery  went  out  to  the  little  old  gentleman 
in  green,  and  asked  him  what  he  would  have  with  her. 
He  told  the  dame  that  his  wife  was  sorely  sick,  and 
that  he  wanted  her  to  come  and  nurse  her  for  the  night. 
At  this  Dame  Margery  hemmed  and  hawed  and  shook 
her  head,  for  she  did  not  like  the  thought  of  going  out 
at  night,  she  knew  not  where,  and  with  such  a  strange 
little  body.  Then  the  little  man  begged  her  and  pleaded 
with  her,  and  his  voice  and  his  words  were  as  sweet  as 
honey.  At  last  he  persuaded  her  to  go,  promising  her 
a  good  reward  if  she  would  nurse  his  wife  back  into 
her  health  again.  So  the  dame  went  back  into  the  cot- 
tage to  make  ready  for  her  journeying,  throwing  her  red 
riding-cloak  over  her  shoulders,  and  drawing  her  thick 
shoes  upon  her  feet.  Then  she  filled  her  reticule  with 
a  parcel  of  simples,  in  case  they  should  be  needed.  After 
this  she  came  out  again,  and  climbed  up  behind  the  little 
man  in  green,  and  so  settled  herself  upon  the  pillion 
saddle  for  her  ride.  Then  the  little  man  whistled  to  his 
horse,  and  away  they  went. 

They  seemed  to  fly  rather  than  ride  upon  the  hard 
ground,  for  the  hedges  and  cottages  and  orchards  flew 
past  as  though  in  a  dream.     But  fast  as  they  went,  the 


34 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


old  dame  saw  many  things  which  she  had  never  dreamed 
of  before.  She  saw  all  of  the  hedge-rows,  the  by-ways, 
the  woods  and  fields  alive  with  fairy-folk.  Each  little 
body  was  busy  upon  his  or  her  own  business,  laughing, 


* 

A 


o    ©    *>    °     * 


e»     a      o       ©       o 


o        o       o       e>       o       o      o) 


chatting,  talking,  and  running  here  and  there  like  folks 
on  a  market-day. 

So  they  came  at  last  to  a  place  which  the  dame  knew 
was  the  three-tree-hill;  but  it  was  not  the  three-tree-hill 
which  she  had  seen  in  all  of  her  life  before,  for  a  great 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  35 

gateway  seemed  to  open  into  it  and  it  was  into  this 
gateway  that  the  little  man  in  green  urged  the  great 
white  horse. 

After  they  had  entered  the  hill,  Dame  Margery 
climbed  down  from  the  pillion  and  stood  looking  about 
her.  Then  she  saw  that  she  was  in  a  great  hall,  the 
walls  of  which  were  glistening  with  gold  and  silver, 
while  bright  stones  gleamed  like  so  many  stars  all  over 
the  roof  of  the  place.  Three  little  fairy  children  were 
playing  with  golden  balls  on  the  floor,  and  when  they 
saw  the  dame  they  stopped  in  their  sport  and  stood 
looking  silently  upon  her  with  great,  wide-opened  eyes, 
just  as  though  they  were  little  mortal  children.  In  the 
corner  of  the  room  was  a  bed  all  of  pure  gold,  and  over 
the  bed  were  spread  coverlets  of  gold  and  silver  cloth, 
and  in  the  bed  lay  a  beautiful  little  lady,  very  white  and 
ill.  Then  Dame  Margery  knew  well  enough  that  every 
one  of  these  little  people  were  fairies. 

The  dame  nursed  the  fairy  lady  all  that  night,  and 
by  cock-crow  in  the  morning  the  little  woman  had  ease 
from  her  pain. 

Then  the  little  man  spoke  for  the  first  time  since 
Dame  Margery  had  left  home.  "Look  'ee,  Dame  Mar- 
gery," said  he;  "I  promised  to  pay  you  well  and  I  will 
keep  my  word.  Come  hither!"  So  the  dame  went  to 
him  as  he  had  bidden  her  to  do,  and  the  little  man 
filled  her  reticule  with  black  coals  from  the  hearth.  The 
dame  said  nothing,  but  she  wondered  much  whether 
the  little  man  called  this  good  pay  for  her  pains.  After 
this  she  climbed  up  on  the  great  horse  again,  and  be- 
hind the  little  man,  and  they  rode  out  of  the  place  and 


36 


WwtmP 


/ 1.  ■      x  '  \, 


o^SJ 


'  verdewy  hill  and  lea 
A\errily 
Rufhed  a  mad-cap  breeze  at  play i 
And  the.  daifie.5,  like  the  bright 

Stars  at  night. 
Danced  and  twinkled  iniis  way. 

Nins'.a  tree  called  to  me  breezet 

"Little  breeze., 
'WLLlycucorne  and  have  a  play?  " 
And  the.  wind  uponJts  way 

S  topped  to  play. 
Then  flic  loavej  ,wifh  Hidden  fhlver. 

Sudden  quiver, 

AYet  me  light 

.AVad-cap  breezo 

With  delight. 

Prefently  fhe  breeze  grew  Wronger, 

Forit  cared  to  play  n°i°nger. 
Soit  flung  fhe  limbs  about, 
Andittoffed  the  leaves  ir\r°ut, 

Til]  it  r°a red, as -fh°ugh  wifh thunder. 
Then  fhe  poor  tree  groaned  and  bent, 
And  fhe  breeze, -a  tempeft,-rent 
Leaves  and  branches  frp/nats  crown  j 
Till, at  Iaft,itiflung  it  down, 

Stripped  ,and  bare, and  torn  afunder- 


\ 


e  accident 
of  birfh. 


jy 


,  AINTNlCHOLAS  used  to  s end,  solam  told, 
?A11  new-born  babes  by  storkj,in  days  of  old 


Kin?  Friedrich/^axaof  Stultzenrnannenkfm, 
For  many  years  unto  y«  Saint  did  pray, 

"That  hew°uld  send  unto  his  Queen  and  him, 
A  baby  boy,to  be  ye  King  s°meday. 

At  last  ye  Saint  yeKing's  petition  heard, 

And  called  tohima  sober  long-legged  bird. 

Qyoth he"GoodWiIhelmStorkGuchwa5 its  name )7 
Here  is  a  baby  boy  to  take  away. 

Ttisfop  Fritz;  s°bear  himtoye  same-, 

Or  rather  to  his  Qjjeen,wi£hout  delay. 

For  one  grows 'Weary  when  one  always  hears 

Ye  same  words  daily  dinning inone's  ears." 


NowWiLhelm  Stork. -was  oId,and  dull  of  wits, 
For  age  not  always  sharpenswisdomimuch, 

S°what  does  he  but  bear  ye  gift  to  Fritz 
Ye  cobbler,  who  had  half  a  score  of  s  uch. 

And  s°y6baby, through  a  blunder,  passed 

Fr°m  being  first  of  all,  unto—   y^last. 

Frorrufhis  I  gather  that  a  new-born  Prince,  t,,™ 
From  new-born  cobblers  somewhat  hard  tp  ^ 

For  which  of  us  could  tell  ye  diffeTenoe,slnce_ 
Onefhuj  experienced  was  mistaken 

Also,  perhaps, /should  be  great,  instead 

"TT  writing  thus, t°  earn  my  dai  ly  bread 

rfP/\Dcccixxxm  yi 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  37 

home,  where  they  were  safe  and  sound  ere  the  day  had 
fairly  broken.  But  before  the  little  man  had  left  her  he 
drew  out  another  little  box  just  like  the  one  that  Tommy 
Lamb  had  brought  her  the  evening  before,  only  this 
time  the  box  was  filled  with  red  ointment.  "Rub  your 
eyes  with  this,  Dame  Margery,"  said  he. 

Now  Dame  Margery  Twist  knew  butter  from  cheese, 
as  the  saying  is.  She  knew  that  the  green  salve  was  of 
a  kind  which  very  few  people  have  had  rubbed  over  their 
eyes  in  this  world;  that  it  was  of  a  kind  which  poets 
would  give  their  ears  to  possess — even  were  it  a  lump  no 
larger  than  a  pea.  So,  when  she  took  the  box  of  red 
ointment,  she  only  rubbed  one  eye  with  it — her  left  eye. 
Her  right  eye  she  pretended  to  rub,  but,  in  truth,  she 
never  touched  it  at  all. 

Then  the  little  man  got  upon  his  horse  again,  and 
rode  away  to  his  home  in  the  hill. 

After  he  had  gone  away,  Dame  Margery  thought 
that  she  would  empty  her  reticule  of  the  dirty  black  coals  ; 
so  she  turned  it  topsy-turvy,  and  shook  it  over  the 
hearth,  and  out  tumbled — black  coals?  No;  great  lumps 
of  pure  gold  that  shone  bright  yellow,  like  fire,  in  the 
light  of  the  candle.  The  good  dame  could  scarcely  be- 
lieve her  eyes,  for  here  was  wealth  enough  to  keep  her 
in  comfort  for  all  the  rest  of  her  days. 

But  Dame  Margery's  right  eye!  I  wish  I  could  only 
see  what  she  saw  with  that  right  eye  of  hers!  What 
was  it  she  saw?    That  I  will  tell  you. 

The  next  night  was  full  moon,  and  Dame  Margery 
came  and  looked  out  over  the  fine  bed  of  tulips,  of  which 
she  was  very  proud.    "Hey-day!"  she  cried,  and  rubbed 


38 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


her  eyes,  in  doubt  as  to  whether  she  was  asleep  or  awake, 
for  the  whole  place  was  alive  with  little  folks. 

But  she  was  awake,  and  it  was  certain  that  she  saw 
them.  Yes;  there  they  were — little  men,  little  women, 
little  children,  and  little  babies,  as  thick  in  the  tulip  bed 
as  folks  at  a  wedding.  The  little  men  sat  smoking  their 
pipes  and  talking  together;  the  little  women  sat  nursing 
their  babies,  singing  to  them  or  rocking  them  to  sleep  in 
cradles  of  tulip  flowers;  the  little  children   played  at 


hide-and-seek  among  the  flower-stalks.  So  the  dame 
leaned  out  of  the  window,  watching  them  with  great 
delight,  for  it  is  always  a  delight  to  watch  the  little 
folks  at  their  sports. 

After  a  while  she  saw  where  one  of  the  tiny  fairy 
children  hid  himself  under  a  leaf,  while  the  others  who 
were  to  seek  him  looked  up  and  down,  and  high  and 
low,  but  could  find  him  nowhere.  Then  the  old  dame 
laughed  and  laughed  to  see  how  the  others  looked  for 
the  little  fellow,  but  could  not  tell  where  he  was.  At 
last  she  could  hold  her  peace  no  longer,  but  called  out  in 
a  loud  voice,  "Look  under  the  leaf,  Blackcap !" 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  39 

The  words  were  no  sooner  out  of  her  mouth  than, 
whisk!  whirr!  off  they  scampered  out  of  the  garden  and 
away — fathers,  mothers,  children,  babies,  all  crying  in 
their  shrill  voices,  "She  sees  us!  she  sees  us!"  For 
fairies  are  very  timid  folk,  and  dread  nothing  more  than 
to  have  mortals  see  them  in  their  own  shapes. 

So  they  never  came  back  again  to  the  dame's  garden, 
and  from  that  day  to  this  her  tulips  have  been  like 
everybody  else's  tulips.  Moreover,  whenever  she  went 
out  the  fairies  scampered  away  before  her  like  so  many 
mice,  for  they  all  knew  that  she  could  see  them  with  her 
magical  eye.  This,  as  you  may  see,  was  bad  enough, 
but  no  other  harm  would  have  come  of  it  if  she  had  only 
gathered  wisdom  at  that  time,  seeing  what  ill  came  of 
her  speech.  But,  like  many  other  old  dames  that  I  wot  of, 
no  sound  was  so  pleasant  to  her  ears  as  the  words  of 
her  own  mouth. 

Now,  about  a  twelvemonth  after  the  time  that  the 
dame  had  nursed  the  fairy  lady,  the  great  fair  was  held 
at  Tavistock.  All  the  world  and  his  wife  were  there,  so, 
of  course,  Dame  Margery  went  also.  And  the  fair  was 
well  worth  going  to,  I  can  tell  you !  Booths  stood  along 
in  a  row  in  the  yellow  sunlight  of  the  summer-time,  and 
flags  and  streamers  of  many  colors  fluttered  in  the  breeze 
from  long  poles  at  the  end  of  each  booth.  Ale  flowed 
like  water,  and  dancing  was  going  on  on  the  green,  for 
Peter  Weeks  the  piper  was  there,  and  his  pipes  were 
with  him.  It  was  a  fine  sight  to  see  all  of  the  youths 
and  maids,  decked  in  fine  ribbons  of  pink  and  blue,  danc- 
ing hand-in-hand  to  his  piping.  In  the  great  tent  the 
country    people    had    spread    out    their    goods — butter, 


40 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


cheese,  eggs,  honey,  and  the  like — making  as  goodly  a 
show  as  you  would  want  to  see.  Dame  Margery  was 
in  her  glory,  for  she  had  people  to  gossip  with  every- 
where; so  she  went  hither  and  thither,  and  at  last  into 
the  great  tent  where  these  things  of  which  I  have  spoken 
were  all  spread  out  for  show. 


Then,  lo  and  behold !  who  should  she  see,  gliding  here 
and  there  among  the  crowd  of  other  people,  but  the 
little  man  in  green  whom  she  had  seen  a  year  ago.  She 
opened  her  eyes  mightily  wide,  for  she  saw  that  he  was 
doing  a  strange  thing.    By  his  side  hung  a  little  earthen- 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  41 

ware  pot,  and  in  his  hand  he  held  a  little  wooden  scraper, 
which  he  passed  over  the  rolls  of  butter,  afterwards 
putting  that  which  he  scraped  from  the  rolls  into  the  pot 
that  hung  beside  him.  Dame  Margery  peeped  into  the 
pot,  and  saw  that  it  was  half  full ;  then  she  could  contain 
herself  no  longer. 

"Hey-day,  neighbor!"  cried  she,  "here  be  pretty  do- 
ings, truly!  Out  upon  thee,  to  go  scraping  good  luck 
and  full  measure  off  of  other  folks'  butter !" 

When  the  little  man  in  green  heard  the  dame  speak 
to  him,  he  was  so  amazed  that  he  nearly  dropped  his 
wooden  scraper.  "Why,  Dame  Margery!  can  you  see  me 
then?" 

"Aye,  marry  can  I!  And  what  you  are  about  doing 
also;  out  upon  you,  say  I!" 

"And  did  you  not  rub  your  eyes  with  the  red  salve 
then?"  said  the  little  man. 

"One  eye,  yes,  but  one  eye,  no,"  said  the  dame,  slyly. 

"Which  eye  do  you  see  me  with?"  said  he. 

"With  this  eye,  gossip,  and  very  clearly,  I  would  have 
you  know,"  and  she  pointed  to  her  right  eye. 

Then  the  little  man  swelled  out  his  cheeks  until  they 
were  like  two  little  brown  dumplings.  Puff!  he  blew  a 
breath  into  the  good  dame's  eye.  Puff!  he  blew,  and  if 
the  dame's  eye  had  been  a  candle,  the  light  of  it  could 
not  have  gone  out  sooner. 

The  dame  felt  no  smart,  but  she  might  wink  and 
wink,  and  wink  again,  but  she  would  never  wink  sight 
into  the  eye  upon  which  the  little  man  had  blown  his 
breath,  for  it  was  blind  as  the  stone  wall  back  of  the 
mill,  where  Tom  the  tinker  kissed  the  miller's  daughter. 


42  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

Dame  Margery  Twist  never  greatly  missed  the  sight 
of  that  eye;  but  all  the  same,  I  would  give  both  of  mine 
for  it. 

All  of  these  things  are  told  at  Tavistock  town  even 
to  this  day;  and  if  you  go  thither,  you  may  hear  them 
for  yourself. 

But  I  say  again,  as  I  said  at  first:  if  one  could 

only  hold  one's  tongue  as  to  what  one  sees, 

one  would  be  the  better  for  it. 


"ES,  Peter  is  clever."  So  said 
his  mother;  but  then  every 
goose  thinks  her  own  gosling  a  swan. 

The  minister  and  all  of  the  people  of  the  village  said 
Peter  was  but  a  dull  block.  Maybe  Peter  was  a  fool; 
but,  as  the  old  saying  goes,  never  a  fool  tumbles  out 
of  the  tree  but  he  lights  on  his  toes.  So  now  you  shall 
hear  how  that  Peter  sold  his  two  baskets  of  eggs  for 
more  than  you  or  I  could  do,  wise  as  we  be. 

"Peter,"  said  his  mother. 

"Yes,"  said  Peter,  for  he  was  well  brought  up,  and 
always  answered  when  he  was  spoken  to. 

"My  dear  little  child,  thou  art  wise,  though  so  young 
now;  how  shall  we  get  money  to  pay  our  rent?" 

"Sell  the  eggs  that  the  speckled  hen  has  laid,"  said 
Peter. 

"But  when  we  have  spent  the  money  for  them,  what 
then?" 

"Sell  more  eggs,"  said  Peter,  for  he  had  an  answer 
for  everything. 

"But  when  the  speckled  hen  lays  no  more  eggs,  what 
shall  we  do  then?" 

"We  shall  see,"  said  Peter. 

43 


44  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

"Now  indeed  art  thou  wise,"  said  his  mother,  "and 
I  take  thy  meaning;  it  is  this,  when  we  have  spent  all, 
we  must  do  as  the  little  birds  do,  and  trust  in  the  good 
Heaven."  Peter  meant  nothing  of  the  kind,  but  then 
folks  will  think  that  such  wise  fellows  as  Peter  and  I 
mean  more  than  we  say,  whence  comes  our  wisdom. 

So  the  next  day  Peter  started  off  to  the  town,  with 
the  basket  full  of  nice  white  eggs.  The  day  was  bright 
and  warm  and  fair;  the  wind  blew  softly,  and  the4-' wheat- 
fields  lay  like  green  velvet  in  the  sun.  The  flowers  were 
sprinkled  all  over  the  grass,  and  the  bees  kicked  up 
their  yellow  legs  as  they  tilted  into  them.  The  garlic 
stuck  up  stout  spikes  into  the  air,  and  the  young  rad- 
ishes were  green  and  lusty.  The  brown  bird  in  the  tree 
sang,  "Cuckoo!  cuckoo!"  and  Peter  trudged  contentedly 
along,  kicking  up  little  clouds  of  dust  at  every  footstep, 
whistling  merrily  and  staring  up  into  the  bright  sky, 
where  the  white  clouds  hung  like  little  sheep,  feeding  on 
the  wide  blue  field.  "If  those  clouds  were  sheep,  and 
the  sheep  were  mine,  then  I  would  be  a  great  man  and 
very  proud,"  said  Peter.  But  the  clouds  were  clouds, 
and  he  was  not  a  great  man;  nevertheless,  he  whistled 
more  merrily  than  ever,  for  it  was  very  nice  to  think  of 
these  things. 

So  he  trudged  along  with  great  comfort  until  high 
noontide,  against  which  time  he  had  come  nigh  to  the 
town,  for  he  could  see  the  red  roofs  and  the  tall  spires 
peeping  over  the  crest  of  the  next  green  hill.  By  this 
time  his  stomach  was  crying,  "Give!  give!"  for  it  longed 
for  bread  and  cheese.  Now,  a  great  gray  stone  stood 
near  by  at  the  forking  of  the  road,  and  just  as  Peter  came 


jjhree- Utile- men-went- ajoggjng.along 
Alonq.in-fhe-sunshiny  weaflien 
Arvdfheylaughedand.they.jang-an-occasional-song 
Which-(heyall-of-  (hem- caroled*  together- 
Andfh&great-whiie-clouds-floatedover-fhe-sky- 
And-fhe-cfay-it--wa5--warm'andthe-sun-il-waj.high- 

Asfhree-joIlytallor-merv-aJI-were-fhey.  \4 

As-you'd-findina-doren-of -years. 
One'carriedfhe^yard'stick-anoihen-fhe-gooje 
And- fhe-braves  r.of-all-bore4he 
shears- 
5o(hey-merrily-irudged-until-after 

awhile  - 
They^ame-'where-fhree.mifk.- 
•mai  ds-sat"  aflona-  srile  - 

Thegrasi-itwasigreen-and-fhe-' 
flowers-were-gay- ' 
And-/twas-(he;pleasantes ' 
weather- 
And-fhe-rnllkmaidS'Were- 
pretty-ai-blossomjin-Aay 
As  fhey-jai-on-the-stiie- 
all-togefher- 
Then  fhey  JIopped-orvfhe-High 
-way  ■  (hose  -fnree-gal  lantme  n 
For- (hey- never -had-seen-as  fair 
lasses-ar-fhen- 

Then-up -spake  fhe-first-of-fhe- 

tai/or-rnen-fhtee- 
And-fhe-onewi(h-fhe-g°odliest 
parts. 
We-are-all-of-us- good-men. gallant- 

and-free-" 
And-have-never-yet-plfghied-our-hearts 
5oprifhee-fair-maidT-wilf-y95j-rriaTTy-us-all  ■    , 
Por-our-  hearts•fhey•be•g^eat■mo,•  our-bodjes-be-smal  I  •" 

Then-up-spake-fhe-fTrsr-of-fhe-fhree-pretly-dears 
"Pray-tell-whatyour-fortune>-may>be-sir»" 

"Oh-fhree-lovinojhearis-and-a-yard-goose-and'sh' 
"Thenyou'venot-enough-forlune-for-me.sir- 

.So-getyou-aJong-while-your-bDotj-are-Stillgreerr 

Fcr-rlcheryoung-menAye-jhan-marry-l-ween." 

Threelittle-talIoT-men</ogging-along- 

Along-in-the-jumhiny  -weather- 
No- longer- fhey-laiigh-with-aj  est- and-a-jong 

But-fhey-walk'Very- sadly-together- 
Forwhen-maidenj-are-pn^d-Jlke-fne-mifRjnalderu 
Th  e •  I  ads -fh ey •§ row- jad-I Ike' fhe- taiJorj-ioboJd • 


'PANCY-AND-FACT'IF^; 


la  fhepherd  and  a  fhepherdeO, 
They  dwelt  in  Arcadee, 

And  fhey  were  dreffed  in  Watteau 
Al°ft  charming  f°r  t°  feo. 


They  sat  upon  the  4ewy  gra.fi 
Wifh  buds  and  blofform  fet, 
j|  And  the  fhepherd  played  unt°  fh< 
Vpona  flageolet. 


b^^^H^M^W/  7"  seemed  t°  me  as  m°ugh  it  was 
s^Sk^  Qi/t^MM/J     A  very  pleasant  thing  j 
Particularly  fo  becaufe 

The  time  of  year -was  Spring 

But,0  !  the  ground  .was  damp,andf< 
AtJeaft,  Ihave  been  Told, 

The  fhepherd  caught  fhe  lumbago, 
The  fhepherdefs.a  c°|d. 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  45 

to  it  he  heard  a  noise.  "Click!  clack!"  he  turned  his 
head,  and,  lo  and  behold !  the  side  of  the  stone  opened  like 
a  door,  and  out  came  a  little  old  man  dressed  all  in  fine 
black  velvet.  "Good-day,  Peter,"  said  he.  "Good-day, 
sir,"  said  Peter,  and  he  took  off  his  hat  as  he  spoke,  for 
he  could  see  with  half  an  eye  that  this  little  old  gentleman 
was  none  of  your  cheese-paring  fine  folks. 

"Will  you  strike  a  bargain  with  me  for  your  eggs?" 
said  the  little  old  man.  Yes,  Peter  would  strike  a  bar- 
gain; what  would  the  little  gentleman  give  him  for  his 
eggs?  "I  will  give  you  this,"  said  the  little  old  man, 
and  he  drew  a  black  bottle  out  of  his  pocket. 

Peter  took  the  bottle  and  turned  it  over  and  over  in 
his  hands.  "It  is,"  said  he,  "a  pretty  little,  good  little, 
sweet  little  bottle,  but  it  is  not  worth  as  much  as  my 
basket  of  eggs." 

"Prut!"  said  the  little  gentleman,  "now  you  are  not 
talking  like  the  wise  Peter.  You  should  never  judge 
by  the  outside  of  things.    What  would  you  like  to  have?" 

"I  should  like,"  said  Peter,  "to  have  a  good  dinner." 

"Nothing  easier!"  said  the  little  gentleman,  and  he 
drew  the  cork.  Pop!  pop!  and  what  should  come  out 
of  the  bottle  but  two  tall  men,  dressed  all  in  blue  with 
gold  trimmings.  "What  will  you  have,  sir?"  said  the  first 
of  these  to  the  little  gentleman. 

"A  good  dinner  for  two,"  said  the  little  man. 

No  sooner  said  than  done;  for,  before  you  could 
say  Frederic  Strutzenwillenbachen,  there  stood  a  table, 
with  a  sweet,  clean,  white  cloth  spread  over  it,  and  on 
this  was  the  nicest  dinner  that  you  ever  saw,  for  there 
were  beer  and  chitterlings,  and  cheese  and  good  white 


46 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


bread,  fit  for  the  king.    Then  Peter  and  the  little  man 
fell  to  with  might  and  main,  and  ate  till  they  could  eat 


no  more.  After  they  were  done,  the  two  tall  men  took 
table  and  dishes  and  all  back  into  the  bottle  again,  and 
the  little  gentleman  corked  it  up. 

"Yes,"  said  Peter,  "I  will  give  you  my  basket  of  eggs 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  47 

for  the  little  black  bottle."  And  so  the  bargain  was 
struck.  Then  Peter  started  off  home,  and  the  little  man 
went  back  again  into  the  great  stone  and  closed  the  door 
behind  him.  He  took  the  basket  of  eggs  with  him; 
where  he  took  it  neither  Peter  nor  I  will  ever  be  able 
to  tell  you. 

So  Peter  trudged  along  homeward,  until,  after  a 
while,  the  day  waxing  warm,  he  grew  tired.  "I  wish," 
said  he,  "that  I  had  a  fine  white  horse  to  ride." 

Then  he  took  the  cork  out  of  the  bottle.  Pop!  pop! 
and  out  came  the  two  tall  fellows,  just  as  they  had 
done  for  the  little  old  man.  "What  will  you  have,  sir?" 
said  the  first  of  them. 

"I  will  have,"  said  Peter,  "a  fine  white  horse  to  ride." 

No  sooner  said  than  done ;  for  there,  before  him  in  the 
road,  stood  a  fine  white  horse,  with  a  long  mane  and 
tail,  just  like  so  much  spun  silk.  In  his  mouth  was  a 
silver  bit;  on  his  back  was  a  splendid  saddle,  covered 
all  over  with  gold  and  jewels;  on  his  feet  were  shoes  of 
pure  gold,  so  that  he  was  a  very  handsome  horse  indeed. 

Peter  mounted  on  his  great  horse  and  rode  away 
home,  as  grand  as  though  he  were  a  lord  or  a  nobleman. 

Every  one  whom  he  met  stopped  in  the  middle  of  the 
road  and  looked  after  him.  "Just  look  at  Peter!"  cried 
they;  but  Peter  held  his  chin  very  high,  and  rode  along 
without  looking  at  them,  for  he  knew  what  a  fine  sight  he 
was  on  his  white  horse. 

And  so  he  came  home  again. 

"What  didst  thou  get  for  thy  eggs,  my  little  duck?" 
said  his  mother. 

"I  got  a  bottle,  mother,"  said  Peter. 


48 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


Then  at  first  Peter's  mother  began  to  think  as  others 
thought,  that  Peter  was  a  dull  block.  But  when  she  saw 
what  a  wonderful  bottle  it  was,  and  how  it  held  many 
good  things  and  one  over,  she  changed  her  mind  again, 
and  thought  that  her  Peter  was  as  wise  as  the  moon. 

And  now  nothing  was  lacking  in  the  cottage;  if 
Peter  and  his  mother  wanted  this,  it  came  to  them;  if 
they  wished  for  that,  the  two  tall  men  in  the  bottle  fetched 
it.  They  lined  the  house  all  inside  with  pure  gold,  and 
built  the  chimneys  of  bricks  of  silver,  so  that  there  was 
nothing,  so  fine  between  all  the  four  great  rivers.     Peter 


dressed  in  satin  and  his  mother  in  silk,  and  everybody 
called  him  "Lord  Peter."  Even  the  minister  of  the 
village  said  that  he  was  no  dull  boy,  for  nobody  is  dull 
who  rides  on  horseback  and  never  wears  wooden  shoes. 
So  now  Peter  was  a  rich  man. 

One  morning  Peter  said  to  his  mother,  "Mother,  I 
am  going  to  ask  the  King  to  let  me  marry  his  daughter." 

To  this  his  mother  said  nothing,  for  surely  her 
Peter  was  as  good  as  any  princess  that  ever  lived. 

So  off  Peter  rode,  dressed  all  in  his  best  and  seated 
astride  of  a  grand  horse.    At  last  he  came  to  the  palace. 


HOWAKD  ■  PYLE-  DEI«-I>EV 


Ye-twp-wishe 


An  Angel "went  a  walking out one  day,  as  I've  heard  faid . 
And,c°ming  to  a  faggot-maker,  begged  a  cruft  of  bread 
The  faggot-maker  gave  a  cruft  and  something  rather  queer 
T°walhit  dovcn\virhall,from°ut  a  bottle  fhat  flood  near. 
The  Angel  finifhed  eating;but  before  he  left  , faid  he, 
"Thou  lh&lt  have  two  wifhe>  granted, for  that  fhou  haft  giveame. 
One  with  fop  fhat  good  drinkabte,another  for  the  bread." 
Then  he  left  fhefagg°t-maker  all  amazed  at  what  he'd  faid. 

Twonder,"  fays  the  -faggot-maker,  after  he  had  gone, 

Tw°nder  if  there's  any  trufhinfhat  famelittle  fong  !" 

$o,tuming  this  thing  °verinhis mind, hecafl  around, 

'Till  he  faw  the  empty  bottle  where  it  lay  up°n  fheground . 

"lwi(h,"faid  he,  juftas  a  teft ,"  if  what  he  faid  is  Co, 

Into  fhat  empty  b°ule,  n°w,  fhat  I  may  ft  raightway  g°  " 

No  (o  oner  faid  than  done;  for,  -Whifk!  into  theflafk  he  fell , 

Where  he  found  himfelf  as  tightly  packed  as  chickeninthe  (hell. 

Invainhe  kicked  and  twitted, and  invainhe  howledwifhpain; 

F°r,  in  fpiteof  all  his  efforts,  hecould  not  get  out  again. 

So,  feeing  how  fhe  matter  5to°d,  he  had  to  with  once  more. 

When,  out  he  flipped, as  eafily  as  he'd  gone  in  before. 

Ifwe  had  had  two-wlfhes,  granted  by  an  Angel  thus, 
We  would  not  fhrow  away  fhe  good  fo  kindly  given  us. 
F°r  firfl  we'd  afk  forwifdorn  ,which,whenwehad  in  (tore, 
I'm  very  doubtful  if  we'd  care  to  afk  for  anymore. 


,he. 


ir 


Si 


c 


b2_ 


AVERSEWTTH-AAPRAL-BUT  No-N  A  AE> 


'If  all  fhe  world  wai  paper, 
And  if  all  fhe  fea  wai  ink , 

And  if  fhe  tree)  werebreadandcheese, 
Whatw°uld  we  d°  for  drink?" 

Thenall  fhe  folk, bofh  great  and  fmall, 

Began  t°  beat  fheir  braini, 
But  fhey  c°uld  not  anfwer  him  at  all, 

In  fpite  of  all  fheir  pains. 


Butrtil!  he  wandered  here  and  (here, 
That  man  of  great  renown, 

And  flil I  he  questioned  everywhere, 
The  folk  of  Haarlem  town: 

"  If  all  fhe  world  wa;  paper, 

And  if  all  fhe  fea  was  ink, 
And  iffhe  tree  i  were  bread  andchee.se, 
What  would  wedofor  drink?  " 

Full  fhin  hegrew,ai,day  by  day, 
He  toiled  with  mental  drain, 
Until  fhe  wind  blew  him  away, 
And  he  ne'er  was  fe&n  again. 

Andnow  mefhinks  I  hear  you  jay, 
u  Was  ere  a  man  (°  fo°Hfh,pray, 
Since  first  fhe  world  began?" 
Oh,hufh!  I'll  tell  you  secretly,- 
DownEafi  fhere  dwells  a  man  ,and  he 
Is  afking  queftionj  conftantly, 
Thatnone  canan(wer,fhatl  see; 
Yet  he's  awise-wise man! 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  49 

which  was  finer  than  the  handsome  new  house  of  Herr 
Mayor  Kopff.  Rap!  rap!  rap!  Peter  knocked  at  the 
door,  and  presently  came  a  neat  servant  girl  and  opened 
it  to  him.    "Is  the  King  at  home,  my  dear?"  said  Peter. 

Yes,  the  King  was  at  home;  would  he  come  into 
the  parlor  and  sit  down?  So  Peter  went  into  the  parlor 
and  sat  down,  and  then  the  King  came  in,  dressed  all  in 
his  best  dressing-gown,  with  silver  slippers  upon  his 
feet,  and  a  golden  crown  upon  his  head. 

"What  is  your  name?"  said  the  King. 

"Peter  Stultzenmilchen,"  said  Peter. 

"And  what  do  you  want,  Lord  Peter,"  said  the  King; 
for,  as  I  have  said,  Peter  was  dressed  in  his  best  clothes, 
and  the  old  King  thought  that  he  was  a  great  lord. 

"I  want  to  marry  your  daughter,"  said  Peter. 

To  this  the  King  said  "Hum-m-m,"  and  Peter  said 
nothing.  Then  the  King  said  that  he  had  determined 
that  no  one  should  marry  his  daughter  without  bringing 
him  a  basketful  of  diamonds,  rubies,  topazes,  emeralds, 
pearls,  and  all  manner  of  precious  stones;  for  he  thought 
by  this  to  get  rid  of  Peter. 

"Is  that  all?"  said  Peter.     "Nothing  is  easier." 

So  off  he  went,  until  he  came  to  a  chestnut  woods 
just  back  of  the  royal  kitchen-garden.  There  he  un- 
corked his  bottle.  Pop!  pop!  and  out  came  the  two 
tall  men.  "What  will  you  have,  sir?"  said  they.  Peter 
told  them  what  he  wanted,  and  it  was  no  sooner  said 
than  done;  for,  there  on  the  ground  before  him,  stood 
a  basketful  of  all  kinds  of  precious  stones;  each  of  them 
was  as  large  as  a  hen's  egg,  and  over  all  of  them  was 


50  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

spread  a  nice  clean  white  napkin.  So  Peter  took  the 
basket  on  his  arm  and  went  back  again  to  the  palace. 

But  how  the  King  did  open  his  eyes,  to  be  sure,  and 
how  he  stared!  "Now,"  said  Peter,  "I  should  like  to 
marry  your  daughter,  if  you  please." 

At  this  the  King  hemmed  and  hawed  again.  No, 
Peter  could  not  marry  the  Princess  yet,  for  the  King  had 
determined  that  no  man  should  marry  his  daughter  with- 
out bringing  him  a  bird  all  of  pure  silver  that  could  sing 
whenever  it  was  wanted,  and  that  more  sweetly  than  a 
nightingale;  for  he  thought  that  now  he  should  be  rid  of 
Peter,  at  any  rate. 

"Nothing  easier,"  said  Peter,  and  off  he  went  again. 

When  he  had  come  to  the  chestnut  woods,  he  un- 
corked his  bottle  and  told  the  two  tall  men  what  he 
wanted.  No  sooner  said  than  done;  for  there  was  a 
bird  all  of  pure  silver.  And  not  only  that,  but  the  bird 
sat  in  a  little  golden  tree,  and  the  leaves  of  the  tree  were 
emeralds,  and  rubies  hung  like  cherries  from  the  branches. 

Then  Peter  wrapped  this  up  in  his  handkerchief  and 
took  it  to  the  palace.  As  for  the  King,  he  could  not 
look  at  it  or  listen  to  it  enough. 

"Now,"  said  Peter,  "I  should  like  to  marry  your 
daughter,  if  you  please." 

But  at  this  the  King  sang  the  same  tune  again.  No, 
Peter  could  not  marry  his  daughter  yet,  for  the  King 
had  determined  that  the  man  who  was  to  marry  his 
daughter  should  first  bring  him  a  golden  sword,  so  keen 
that  it  could  cut  a  feather  floating  in  the  air,  yet  so 
strong  that  it  could  cut  through  an  iron  bar. 

"Nothing  easier,"  said  Peter,  and  this  time  the  men 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  51 

of  the  bottle  brought  him  such  a  sword  as  he  asked  for, 
and  the  hilt  was  studded  all  over  with  precious  stones, 
so  that  it  was  very  handsome  indeed.  Then  Peter  brought 
it  to  the  King,  and  it  did  as  the  King  would  have  it — it 
cut  through  a  feather  floating  in  the  air;  as  for  the  iron 


bar,  it  cut  through  that  as  easily  as  you   would  bite 
through  a  radish. 

And  now  it  seemed  as  though  there  was  nothing  else 
to  be  done  but  to  let  Peter  marry  the  Princess.  So  the 
King  asked  him  in  to  supper,  and  they  all  three  sat  down 
together,  the  King  and  the  Princess  and  Peter.     And 


52  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

it  was  a  fine  feast,  I  can  tell  you,  for  they  had  both 
white  and  red  wine,  besides  sausages  and  cheese,  and  real 
white  bread  and  puddings,  and  all  manner  of  good 
things;  for  kings  and  princesses  eat  and  drink  of  the 
best. 

As  for  Peter,  he  made  eyes  at  the  Princess,  and  the 
Princess  looked  down  on  her  plate  and  blushed,  and 
Peter  thought  that  he  had  never  seen  such  a  pretty  girl. 

After  a  while  the  King  began  to  question  Peter  how 
he  came  by  all  these  fine  things — the  precious  stones, 
the  silver  bird,  and  the  golden  sword;  but  no,  Peter 
would  not  tell.  Then  the  King  and  the  Princess  begged 
and  begged  him,  until,  at  last,  Peter  lost  his  wits  and 
told  all  about  the  bottle.  Then  the  King  said  nothing 
more,  and  presently,  it  being  nine  o'clock,  Peter  went 
to  bed.  After  he  had  gone  the  King  and  the  Princess 
put  their  heads  together,  and  the  end  of  the  matter  was 
that  the  wicked  King  went  to  Peter's  room  and  stole 
the  bottle  from  under  the  pillow  where  he  had  hidden  it, 
and  put  one  in  its  place  that  was  as  empty  as  a  beer 
barrel  after  the  soldiers  have  been  in  the  town;  for  the 
King  and  the  Princess  thought  that  it  would  be  a  fine 
thing  to  have  the  bottle  for  themselves. 

When  the  next  morning  had  come,  and  they  were  all 
sitting  at  their  breakfast  together,  the  King  said,  "Now, 
Lord  Peter,  let  us  see  what  your  bottle  will  do;  give  us 
such  and  such  a  kind  of  wine." 

"Nothing  easier,"  said  Peter.  Then  he  uncorked  the 
bottle,  but  not  so  much  as  a  single  dead  fly  came  out  of  it. 

"But  where  is  the  wine?"  said  the  King. 

"I  do  not  know,"  said  Peter. 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  53 

At  this  the  King  called  him  hard  names  and  turned 
him  out  of  the  palace,  neck  and  heels;  so  back  poor 
Peter  went  to  his  mother  with  a  flea  in  his  ear,  as  the 
saying  is.  Now  he  was  poor  again,  and  everybody  called 
him  a  dull  block,  for  he  rode  no  great  white  horse  and 
he  wore  wooden  shoes. 

"Never  mind,"  said  his  mother,  "here  is  another 
basket  of  eggs  from  the  speckled  hen."  So  Peter  set  off 
with  these  to  the  market  town,  as  he  had  done  with  the 
others  before.  When  he  had  come  to  the  great  stone 
at  the  forking  of  the  road,  whom  should  he  meet  but 
the  same  little  gentleman  he  had  met  the  first  time.  "Will 
you  strike  a  bargain?"  said  he.  Yes,  Peter  would  strike 
a  bargain,  and  gladly.  Thereupon  the  little  old  man 
brought  out  another  black  bottle. 

"Two  men  are  in  this  bottle,"  said  the  little  old  man; 
"when  they  have  done  all  that  you  want  them  to  do,  say 
'brikket-ligg'  and  they  will  go  back  again.  Will  you 
trade  with  me?  Yes,  Peter  would  trade.  So  Peter  gave 
the  little  man  the  eggs,  and  the  little  man  gave  Peter 
the  second  bottle,  and  they  parted  very  good  friends. 

After  a  while  Peter  grew  tired.  "Now,"  said  he  to 
himself,  "I  will  ride  a  little";  and  so  he  drew  the  cork 
out  of  the  bottle.  Pop!  pop!  out  came  two  men  from 
the  bottle;  but  this  time  they  were  ugly  and  black,  and 
each  held  a  stout  stick  in  his  hand.  They  said  not  a 
word,  but,  without  more  ado,  fell  upon  Peter  and  began 
threshing  him  as  though  he  was  wheat  on  the  barn  floor. 
"Stop!  stop!"  cried  Peter,  and  he  went  hopping  and 
skipping  up  and  down,  and  here  and  there,  but  it  seemed 
as  though  the  two  ugly  black  men  did  not  hear  him,  for 


54  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

the  blows  fell  as  thick  as  hail  on  the  roof.  At  last  he 
gathered  his  wits  together,  like  a  flock  of  pigeons,  and 
cried,  "Brikket-ligg!  brikket-ligg!"    Then,  whisk!  pop! 


they  went  back  into  the  bottle  again,  and  Peter  corked 
it  up,  and  corked  it  tightly,  I  can  tell  you. 

The  next  day  he  started  off  to  the  palace  once  more. 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  55 

Rap!  rap!  rap!  he  knocked  at  the  door.  Was  the  King 
at  home?  Yes,  the  King  was  at  home;  would  he  come 
and  sit  in  the  parlor? 

Presently  the  King  came  in,  in  dressing-gown  and 
slippers.    "What!  are  you  back  again?"  said  he. 

"Yes;  I  am  back  again,"  said  Peter. 

"What  do  you  want?"  said  the  King. 

"I  want  to  marry  the  Princess,"  said  Peter. 

"What  have  you  brought  this  time?"  said  the  King. 

"I  have  brought  another  bottle,"  said  Peter. 

Then  the  King  rubbed  his  hands  and  was  very  polite 
indeed,  and  asked  Peter  in  to  breakfast,  and  Peter  went. 
So  they  all  three  sat  down  together,  the  King,  the  Prin- 
cess, and  Peter. 

"My  dear,"  said  the  King,  to  the  Princess,  "the  Lord 
Peter  has  brought  another  bottle  with  him."  Thereat 
the  Princess  was  very  polite  also.  Would  Lord  Peter 
let  them  see  the  bottle?  Oh  yes!  Peter  would  do  that; 
so  he  drew  it  out  of  his  pocket  and  sat  it  upon  the  table. 

Perhaps  they  would  like  to  have  it  opened.  Yes, 
that  they  would.    So  Peter  opened  the  bottle. 

Hui!  what  a  hubbub  there  was!  The  King  hopped 
about  till  his  slippers  flew  off,  his  dressing-gown  fluttered 
like  great  wings,  and  his  crown  rolled  off  from  his  head 
and  across  the  floor,  like  a  quoit  at  the  fair.  As  for  the 
Princess,  she  never  danced  in  all  of  her  life  as  she  danced 
that  morning.  They  made  such  a  noise  that  the  soldiers 
of  the  Royal  Guard  came  running  in;  but  the  two  tall 
black  men  spared  them  no  more  than  the  King  and  the 
Princess.  Then  came  all  of  the  Lords  of  the  Council, 
and  they  likewise  danced  to  the  same  music  as  the  rest. 


56 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


"Oh,  Peter!  dear  Lord  Peter!  cork  up  your  men 
again!"  they  all  cried. 

"Will  you  give  me  back  my  bottle?"  said  Peter. 

"Yes!  yes!"  cried  the  King. 

"Will  you  marry  me?"  said  Peter. 

"Yes!  yes!"  cried  the  Princess. 

Then  Peter  said  "brikket-ligg!"  and  the  two  tall  men 
popped  back  into  the  bottle  again.  So  the  King  gave  him 
back  his  other  bottle,  and  the  minister  was  called  in  and 
married  him  to  the  Princess. 

After  that  he  lived  happily,  and  when  the  old  King 
died  he  became  King  over  all  of  the  land.  As  for  the 
Princess,  she  was  as  good  a  wife  as  you  ever  saw,  but 
Peter  always  kept  the  bottle  near  to  him — maybe  that  was 
the  reason. 

Ah  me!  if  I  could  only  take  my  eggs  to  such  a 

market  and  get  two  such  bottles  for  them! 

What  would  I  do  with  them?    It  would 

take  too  long  to  tell  you. 


H 


ANS  HECKLEMANN  had 
no  luck  at  all.  Now  and  then 
we  hear  folks  say  that  they  have  no  luck,  but  they  only 
mean  that  their  luck  is  bad  and  that  they  are  ashamed  of  it. 
Everybody  but  Hans  Hecklemann  had  luck  of  some  kind, 
either  good  or  bad,  and,  what  is  more,  everybody  carries 
his  luck  about  with  him;  some  carry  it  in  their  pocket- 
books,  some  carry  it  in  their  hats,  some  carry  it  on  their 
finger  tips,  and  some  carry  it  under  their  tongues — these 
are  lawyers.  Mine  is  at  this  moment  sitting  astride  of  my 
pen,  though  I  can  no  more  see  it  than  though  it  was 
thin  air;  whether  it  is  good  or  bad  depends  entirely  as  to 
how  you  look  upon  it. 

But  Hans  Hecklemann  had  no  luck  at  all.  How  he 
lost  it  nobody  knows,  but  it  is  certain  that  it  was  clean 
gone  from  him. 

He  was  as  poor  as  charity,  and  yet  his  luck  was  not 
bad,  for,  poor  as  he  was,  he  always  had  enough  for  his 
wife  and  his  family  and  himself  to  eat.  They  all  of  them 
worked  from  dawn  to  nightfall,  and  yet  his  luck  was  not 
good,  for  he  never  laid  one  penny  on  top  of  the  other, 
as  the  saying  is.  He  had  food  enough  to  eat,  and 
clothes  enough  to  wear,  so  his  luck  was  not  indifferent. 

57 


58  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

Now,  as  it  was  neither  good,  bad,  nor  indifferent,  you 
see  that  it  could  have  been  no  luck  at  all. 

Hans  Hecklemann's  wife  was  named  Catherine.  One 
evening  when  Hans  came  into  the  cottage  with  just 
enough  money  to  buy  them  all  bread  and  not  a  cracked 
farthing  to  spare,  Catherine  spoke  to  him  of  this  matter. 

"Hans,"  said  she,  "you  have  no  luck  at  all." 


"No,"  said  Hans,  "I  have  not,"  which  was  the  truth, 
as  I  have  already  told  you. 

"What  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?"  said  Catherine. 

"Nothing  at  all,"  said  Hans. 

"Doing  nothing  puts  no  cabbage  into  the  pot,"  said 
Catherine. 

"It  takes  none  out,"  said  Hans. 


PEPPER  AiND  SALT  59 

"See,  Hans,"  said  Catherine;  "go  to  'the  old  wise 
oman  in  the  wood  and  talk  to  her  about  it;  who  knows 
but  that  she  can  tell  you  how  and  where  you  lost  your 
luck?" 

"If  I  should  find  my  luck  it  might  be  bad  and  not 
good,"  said  Hans. 

"It  is  worth  having  a  look  at,"  said  Catherine;  "you 
can  leave  it  where  you  find  it  if  it  does  not  please  you." 

"No,"  said  Hans ;  "when  a  man  finds  his  luck  he  has 
to  take  it,  whether  he  likes  it  or  no." 

So  Hans  talked,  but  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to  do 
as  Catherine  said,  to  go  and  see  the  old  wise  woman  in 
the  wood.  He  argued  with  her,  but  he  only  argued  with 
her  to  let  her  know  how  little  was  her  knowledge  and 
how  great  was  his.  After  he  had  clearly  shown  her  how 
poor  her  advice  was,  he  took  it.  Many  other  men  are  like 
Hans  Hecklemann. 

So,  early  the  next  morning,  Hans  jogged  along  to 
the  old  wise  woman's  cottage,  while  the  day  was  sweet 
and  fresh.  The  hedgerows  were  covered  all  over  with 
white  blossoms,  as  though  it  was  with  so  much  snow;  the 
cuckoo  was  singing  among  the  budding  branches,  and 
the  little  flowers  were  looking  up  everywhere  with  their 
bright  faces.  "Surely,"  said  Hans  to  himself,  "if  I  find 
my  luck  on  this  day,  it  must  be  good  and  not  ill." 

So  he  came  to  the  little  red  cottage  at  the  edge  of 
the  wood  wherein  lived  the  wise  woman  who  knew  many 
things  and  one.  Hans  scraped  his  feet  on  the  stones 
until  they  were  clean,  and  then  he  knocked  at  the  door. 

"Come  in,"  said  the  old  wise  woman. 

She  was  as  strange  an  old  woman  as  one  could  hope 


60  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

to  see  in  a  lifetime.  Her  nose  bent  down  to  meet  her 
chin,  and  her  chin  bent  up  to  reach  her  nose;  her  face 
was  gray  with  great  age,  and  her  hair  was  as  white  as 
snow.  She  wore  a  long  red  cloak  over  her  shoulders, 
and  a  great  black  cat  sat  on  the  back  of  her  chair. 

"What  do  you  want,  Son  Hans?"  said  she. 

"I  want  to  find  my  luck,  mother,"  said  Hans. 

"Where  did  you  lose  it,  Son  Hans?"  said  she. 

"That  I  do  not  know,  mother,"  said  Hans. 

Then  the  old  wise  woman  said  "Hum-m-m!"  in  a 
very  thoughtful  voice,  and  Hans  said  nothing  at  all. 

After  a  while  she  spoke  again.  "Have  you  enough 
to  eat?"  said  she. 

"Oh  yes!"  said  Hans. 

"Have  you  enough  to  drink?"  said  she. 

"Plenty  of  water,  enough  of  milk,  but  no  beer,"  said 
Hans. 

"Have  you  enough  clothes  to  cover  you?"  said  she. 

"Oh  yes!"  said  Hans. 

"Are  you  warm  enough  in  winter?"  said  she. 

"Oh  yes!"  said  Hans. 

"Then  you  had  better  leave  well  enough  alone,"  said 
she,  "for  luck  can  give  you  nothing  more." 

"But  it  might  put  money  into  my  pocket,"  said  Hans. 

"And  it  might  take  away  the  good  things  that  you  al- 
ready have,"  said  she. 

"All  the  same,  I  should  like  to  find  it  again,"  said 
Hans;  "if  I  could  only  lay  my  hands  on  it  I  might  make 
good  out  of  it,  even  if  it  is  bad." 

"I  doubt  that,"  said  the  old  wise  woman.    Neverthe- 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  61 

less,  she  saw  that  Hans  was  set  in  his  own  way,  and 
that  he  only  talked  stiffness  into  his  stubbornness.  So 
she  arose  from  her  chair  with  much  groaning,  for  her 
joints  were  stiffened  with  age,  and  limping  to  a  closet 
in  the  wall  she  brought  a  book  thence.  Then  she  ran 
her  finger  down  one  page  and  up  another,  until  she 
had  found  that  which  she  sought.  When  she  had  found 
it  she  spoke: 

"Son  Hans,  you  lost  your  luck  three  years  ago  when 
you  were  coming  from  the  fair  at  Kneitlingen.   You  sat 


down  on  the  overturned  cross  that  lies  where  three 
roads  meet,  and  it  fell  out  of  your  pocket  along  with  a 
silver  shilling.  Now,  Hans,  your  luck  was  evil,  there- 
fore it  stuck  to  the  good  sign,  as  all  evil  things  of  that 
kind  must,  like  a  fly  to  butter.  Also,  I  tell  you  this: 
when  an  evil  manikin  such  as  this  touches  the  sign  of 
the  good  cross,  he  becomes  visible  to  the  eyes  of  every- 
body who  chooses  to  look  upon  him.  Therefore  go  to 
the  stone  cross  and  you  will  find  your  luck  running  this 
way  and  that,  but  never  able  to  get  away  from  it."    So  say- 


62 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


ing,  the  old  woman  shut  her  book  again.  Then  she 
arose  from  her  chair  and  went  once  more  to  the  closet 
in  the  wall.  This  time  she  took  from  it  a  little  sack  woven 
of  black  goat's  hair.  "When  you  have  found  your  luck 
again,  put  it  into  this  little  bag,"  said  she;  "once  in  it,  no 


evil  imp  will  be  able  to  get  out  again  so  long  as  you  keep 
the  strings  tied.    And  now  good-bye!" 

Then  Hans  slipped  the  little  sack  into  his  pocket,  and 
set  out  for  the  overturned  stone  cross  where  the  three  roads 
meet.  When  he  had  come  to  the  place,  he  looked  here  and 
there,  and  this  way  and  that,  but  for  a  long  time  he  could 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  63 

see  nothing  at  all.  At  last,  after  much  looking,  he  beheld 
a  little  black  beetle  running  hither  and  thither  on  the  stone. 
"I  wonder,"  said  Hans,  "if  this  can  be  my  luck." 

So  saying,  he  caught  the  little  beetle  betwixt  his  finger 
and  thumb,  but  very  carefully,  for  he  could  not  tell 
whether  or  not  it  might  bite  him.  The  beetle  stuck  to  the 
stone  as  though  it  had  been  glued  there,  but,  at  last,  Hans 
pulled  it  away;  then — lo!  it  was  not  a  beetle  that  he  held 
in  his  hand,  but  a  little  manikin  about  as  long  as  your 
thumb  and  as  black  as  ink.  Hans  Hecklemann  was  so 
frightened  that  he  nearly  dropped  it,  for  it  kicked  and 
screeched  and  rolled  its  red  eyes  in  a  very  ugly  way  as  he 
held  it.  However,  he  popped  it  into  the  little  sack  and 
pulled  the  strings  tight,  and  there  it  was,  safe  and  sound. 

That  is  what  Hans  Hecklemann's  luck  was  like. 

So  Hans  having  his  luck  secure  in  the  little  sack  be- 
gan to  bargain  with  it.  "What  will  you  do  for  me  if  I  let 
you  out?"  said  he. 

"Nothing  at  all,"  snarled  his  luck. 

"Very  well,"  said  Hans,  "we  will  see  about  that." 

So  he  carried  it  home  with  him,  and  threw  sack  and 
all  into  a  nasty  pot  where  Catherine  cast  the  scrapings  of 
the  dishes — the  fat  and  what  not  that  she  boiled  down  into 
soap  now  and  then.  There  he  left  his  luck  to  stay  until 
the  next  day,  and  then  he  went  to  it  again.  "What  will  you 
do  for  me  if  I  will  let  you  out  now?"  said  he. 

"Nothing  at  all,"  snarled  his  luck. 

"Very  well,"  said  Hans,  "we  will  see  about  that."  So 
he  let  him  stay  where  he  was  for  another  day.  And  so  the 
fiddle  played;  every  day  Hans  Hecklemann  went  to  his 
luck  and  asked  it  what  it  would  give  him  if  he  would  let 


64 


t  reat  and  rich  beyond  comparing 
"WasfheRajah  Rhamajaring, 
.As  he  'wont  to  take  an  airing 

"^A/ifhhii  Court  one  fummerday.'y 
.All  were  gay  with  green  and  yellow;-^ 
.And  alittle  darky  fellow 
Bore  amonflrous  fun-umbrella, 

Fortofhade  him  on  fhe  way. 

Nowacertain  fly,un\vitting 
Of  fhis  grandeur,  came  a-flittlng 
To  fhe  Royal  ncfe.and  fitting, 

Twirled  his  leg!  upon  fhe  Tame. 
Then  fhe  Rajah's  &ya  blazed  fire 
Atfhe  infult,and  theiro 
Inhis  heart  boiled  high  and  higher 

31apl    ha.flruckj.but  miffed  his  aim-    ^ 


Then  all  trembled  at  hispaffi'on, 
For  he  fpoke  in  furious  fafhion.. 
5awyg/howyon  flydiddafh  on 
Toourauguft  n°fe  ?  "  he  faid . 
'Now  let  alKvithincurnation 
"Wage  awar  with  out  ceffation;- 
"Warof  b-lood,  ex- ter-mi-nation,  "*^.- 
Until  every  fly  js  dead  HS",.  -  ,, 

Now  fhewhile  this  war.wai  raging. 

That  fhe  Rajah  was  a-\vaging, 

Things  fhat  fhould  have  been  engaging  | 

His  attention  went  to  pot. 
Sohocameat  laftto  begging, 
Though  fhe /lies  continued  plaguing 
For  iVs  not  fo  eafy  pegging 

Outovexations  fhus,lwot. 

»• 


From fhiryou may  feewhatall  have  to  ex 
Wl-^ftghting  fmall  trouble  J,  great  duties  negle-c 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


65 


it  out,  and  every  day  his  luck  said  nothing;  and  so  a  week 
or  more  passed. 

At  last  Hans's  luck  gave  in. 

"See,  Hans,"  it  said  one  morning;  "if  you  will  let  me 
out  of  this  nasty  pickle  I  will  give  you  a  thousand  dialers." 

"Ah  no!"  said  Hans.  "Thalers  are  only  thalers,  as  my 
good  father  used  to  say.  They  melt  away  like  snow,  and 
then  nothing  is  left  of  them.  I  will  trust  no  such  luck  as 
that!" 

"I  will  give  you  two  thousand  thalers,"  said  his  luck. 


"Ah  no!"  said  Hans;  "two  thousand  thalers  are  only 
twice  one  thousand  thalers.  I  will  trust  no  such  luck  as 
that,  either!" 

"Then  what  will  you  take  to  let  me  out,  Hans  Heckle- 
mann?"  said  his  luck. 

"Look,"  said  Hans;  "yonder  stands  my  old  plough. 
Now,  if  you  will  give  me  to  find  a  golden  noble  at  the  end 
of  every  furrow  that  I  strike  with  it  I  will  let  you  out.  If 
not — why,  then,  into  the  soap  you  go." 

"Done!"  said  Hans's  luck. 

"Done!"  said  Hans. 

Then  he  opened  the  mouth  of  the  sack,  and — puff! 


66  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

went  his  luck,  like  wind  out  of  a  bag,  and — pop !  it  slipped 
into  his  breeches  pocket. 

He  never  saw  it  again  with  his  mortal  eyes,  but  it 
stayed  near  to  him,  I  can  tell  you.  "Ha!  ha!  ha!"  it 
laughed  in  his  pocket,  "you  have  made  an  ill  bargain, 
Hans,  I  can  tell  you!" 

'Never  mind,"  said  Hans,  "I  am  contented." 

Hans  Hecklemann  did  not  tarry  long  in  trying  the 
new  luck  of  his  old  plough,  as  you  may  easily  guess.  Off 
he  went  like  the  wind  and  borrowed  Fritz  Friedleburg's 
old  gray  horse.  Then  he  fastened  the  horse  to  the  plough 
and  struck  the  first  furrow.  When  he  had  come  to  the  end 
of  it — pop!  up  shot  a  golden  noble,  as  though  some  one 
had  spun  it  up  from  the  ground  with  his  finger  and 
thumb.  Hans  picked  it  up,  and  looked  at  it  and  looked 
at  it  as  though  he  would  swallow  it  with  his  eyes.  Then 
he  seized  the  handle  of  the  plough  and  struck  another 
furrow — pop!  up  went  another  golden  noble,  and  Hans 
gathered  it  as  he  had  done  the  other  one.  So  he  went  on 
all  of  that  day,  striking  furrows  and  gathering  golden 
nobles  until  all  of  his  pockets  were  as  full  as  they  could 
hold.  When  it  was  too  dark  to  see  to  plough  any  more  he 
took  Fritz  Friedleburg's  horse  back  home  again,  and  then 
he  went  home  himself. 

All  of  his  neighbors  thought  that  he  was  crazy,  for  it 
was  nothing  but  plough,  plough,  plough,  morning  and 
noon  and  night,  spring  and  summer  and  autumn.  Frost 
and  darkness  alone  kept  him  from  his  labor.  His  stable 
was  full  of  fine  horses,  and  he  worked  them  until  they 
dropped  in  the  furrows  that  he  was  always  ploughing. 

"Yes;  Hans  is  crazy,"  they  all  said;  but  when  Hans 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  67 

heard  them  talk  in  this  way  he  only  winked  to  himself  and 
went  on  with  his  ploughing,  for  he  felt  that  he  knew  this 
from  that. 

But  ill  luck  danced  in  his  pocket  with  the  golden 
nobles,  and  from  the  day  that  he  closed  his  bargain  with 
it  he  was  an  unhappy  man.  He  had  no  comfort  of  living, 
for  it  was  nothing  but  work,  work,  work.  He  was  up  and 
away  at  his  ploughing  at  the  first  dawn  of  day,  and  he 
never  came  home  till  night  had  fallen;  so,  though  he 
ploughed  golden  nobles,  he  did  not  turn  up  happiness  in 
the  furrows  along  with  them.  After  he  had  eaten  his 
supper  he  would  sit  silently  behind  the  stove,  warming 
his  fingers  and  thinking  of  some  quicker  way  of  doing  his 
ploughing.  For  it  seemed  to  him  that  the  gold-pieces 
came  in  very  slowly,  and  he  blamed  himself  that  he  had 
not  asked  his  luck  to  let  him  turn  up  three  at  a  time  in- 
stead of  only  one  at  the  end  of  each  furrow;  so  he  had  no 
comfort  in  his  gathering  wealth.  As  day  followed  day  he 
grew  thin  and  haggard  and  worn,  but  seven  boxes  of 
bright  new  gold-pieces  lay  hidden  in  the  cellar,  of  which 
nobody  knew  but  himself.  He  told  no  one  how  rich  he 
was  growing,  and  all  of  his  neighbors  wondered  why  he 
did  not  starve  to  death. 

So  you  see  the  ill  luck  in  his  breeches  pocket  had  the 
best  of  the  bargain,  after  all. 

After  Hans  had  gone  the  way  of  all  men,  his  heirs 
found  the  chests  full  of  gold  in  the  cellar,  and  therewith 
they  bought  fat  lands  and  became  noblemen  and  gentle- 
men ;  but  that  made  Hans's  luck  none  the  better. 

From  all  this  I  gather: 


68  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

That  few  folks  can  turn  ill  luck  into  good  luck. 

That  the  best  thing  for  one  to  do  is  to  let  well  enough  alone. 

That  one  cannot  get  happiness  as  one  does  cabbages — with 

money. 
That  happiness  is  the  only  good  luck,  after  all! 


Q 


ILL? 


rof&ffion 


O 


NCE,  when  Saint  Swithin  chanced  to  be 
A-wandering  in   Hungar)', 
He,  being  hungered,  cast  around 
To  see  if  something  might  be  found 
To  stay  his  stomach. 

Near  by  stood 
A  little  house,  beside  a  wood, 
Where  dwelt  a  worthy  man,  but  poor. 
Thither  he  went,  knocked  at  the  door. 
The  good  man  came.     Saint  Swithin  sai 
"  I  prithee  give  a  crust  of  bread 
To  ease  my  hunger." 

"  Brother,"  quoth 
The  good  man,  "  I  am  sadly  loath 
To  say"  (here  tears  stood  on  his  cheeks' 
"  I've  had  no  bread  for  weeks  and  weeks. 
Save  what  I've  begged.     Had  I  one  bit, 
I'd  gladly  give  thee  half  of  it." 

"How,"  said  the  Saint,  "can  one  so  good 
Go  lacking  of  his  daily  food, 
Go  lacking  means  to  aid  the  poor,. 
Yet  weep  to  turn  them  from  his  door? 
Here — take  this  purse.     Mark  what  I  say: 
Thou'lt  find  within  it  every  d 
Two  golden  coins." 

Years  passed.    Once  more 
Saint  Swithin  knocked  upon  the  door. 
The  good  man  came.     He'd  grown  fat 
And  lusty,  like  a  well-fed  cat. 
Thereat  the  Saint  was  pleased.     Quoth  he, 
"  Give  me  a  crust,  for  charity." 

"  A  crust,  thou  say 'st  ?    Hut,  tut!     How  now? 
Wouldst  come  a-begging  here?     I  trow. 
Thou  lazy  rascal,  thou  couldst  find 
Enough  of  work  hadst  thou  a  mind! 
'Tis  thine  own  fault  if  thou  art  poor. 
Begone,  sir!"     Bang! — he  shut  the  door. 


Saint  Swithin  slowly  scratched  his  head. 
"Well,  I  am — humph! — just  so,"  he  said. 
"  How  very  different  the  fact  is 
'Twixt  the  profession  and  the  practice !" 


Talo-ofoTub- 


You  may  brtng  tcmnind  Pve  furigyouaforig, 
Ofawvanof  Raarlemt°wn.. 

Til  fing  of  another,-  'twill  nottake  Iflng- 
Of  equally  great  renown  • 

2 

"I've*  read"  fald  he,"fhere'.$  a  land  afar, 
O'er  the  bound lefs  tolling  Tea, 

^Where  fat  Little  pigs  ready  roailed  are; 
Naw,fhatb  fh©  land  forme. 

3 

tart  tree-, 
Where  tarts  may  be  plucked  from  the wi  Id 

And  puddings  like-pumpkins  grow, 
Where  candie5,likepebblej,Iiebyfhefea,_ 

Now,  rramerriLflralghtvvay  go." 

4- 

N°vc,what  do  you  think  IVe  heard  it  faid 
Was  his b°at, his  oar,  his  sail? 

Atub ,  afp°on,  and  a  handkerchief  red, 
For  to  bread  both  calm,  and  gale. 

S 

5°  he  sailed  away, for  a  livelong  day; 

And  fhe  sunwas  warm  and  mild, 
And  fhefmall  waves  laughed  as  they  feemed 

And  the  fea-gulls  clamored  wild"  toP'ay» 

6 

$ohe  sailed  away,  fora  livelong  day; 

Till  fhe  wind  began  to  r°ar, 
And  fhe  waves  ros'ehigh ,  and,  to  briefly  say, 

He  never  was  heard  of  more  • 

HP  VIE. 


armor  Griggss  Boggart 


D 


JD  you  ever  hear  of  a 
boggart?  No!  Then  I 
will  tell  you.  A  boggart  is  a  small  imp  that  lives 
in  a  man's  house,  unseen  by  any  one,  doing  a 
little  good  and  much  harm.  This  imp  was  called  a  bog- 
gart in  the  old  times,  now  we  call  such  by  other  names — 
ill-temper,  meanness,  uncharitableness,  and  the  like. 
Even  now,  they  say,  you  may  find  a  boggart  in  some 
houses.  There  is  no  placing  reliance  on  a  boggart ;  some- 
times he  may  seem  to  be  of  service  to  his  master,  but  there 
is  no  telling  when  he  may  do  him  an  ill  turn. 

Rap !  tap !  tap !  came  a  knock  at  the  door. 

The  wind  was  piping  Jack  Frost's,  for  the  time  was 
winter,  and  it  blew  from  the  north.  The  snow  lay  all  over 
the  ground,  like  soft  feathers,  and  the  hay-ricks  looked  as 
though  each  one  wore  a  dunce-cap,  like  the  dull  boy  in 
Dame  Week's  school  over  by  the  green.  The  icicles  hung 
down  by  the  thatch,  and  the  little  birds  crouched  shivering 
in  the  bare  and  leafless  hedge-rows. 

But  inside  the  farm-house  all  was  warm  and  pleasant ; 
the  great  logs  snapped  and  crackled  and  roared  in  the  wide 
chimney-place,  throwing  red  light  up  and  down  the  walls, 

so  that  the  dark  night  only  looked  in  through  the  latticed 

69 


70 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


windows.  Farmer  Griggs  sat  warming  his  knees  at  the 
blaze,  smoking  his  pipe  in  great  comfort,  while  his  crock 
of  ale,  with  three  roasted  crab-apples  bobbing  about  with- 


in it,  warmed  in  the  hot  ashes  beside  the  blazing  logs, 
simmering  pleasantly  in  the  ruddy  heat. 

Dame    Griggs's    spinning-wheel    went    humm-m-m! 
hum-m-m-m-m !  like  a  whole  hiveful  of  bees,  the  cat  purred 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  71 

in  the  warmth,  the  dog  basked  in  the  blaze,  and  little  red 
sparks  danced  about  the  dishes  standing  all  along  in  a  row 
on  the  dresser. 

But,  rap !  tap !  tap !  came  a  knock  at  the  door. 

Then  Farmer  Griggs  took  his  pipe  from  out  his  mouth. 
"Did  'ee  hear  un,  dame?"  said  he.  "Zooks  now,  there  be 
somebody  outside  the  door." 

"Well  then,  thou  gert  oaf,  why  don't  'ee  let  un  in?" 
said  Dame  Griggs. 

"Look  'ee  now,"  said  Georgie  Griggs  to  himself,  "sure 
women  be  of  quicker  wits  than  men!"  So  he  opened  the 
door.  Whoo !  In  rushed  the  wind,  and  the  blaze  of  the 
logs  made  as  though  it  would  leap  up  the  chimney  for 
fear. 

"Will  you  let  me  in  out  of  the  cold,  Georgie  Griggs?" 
piped  a  small  voice.  Farmer  Griggs  looked  down  and  saw 
a  little  wight  no  taller  than  his  knee  standing  in  the  snow 
on  the  door-step.  His  face  was  as  brown  as  a  berry,  and 
he  looked  up  at  the  farmer  with  great  eyes  as  bright  as 
those  of  a  toad.  The  red  light  of  the  fire  shone  on  him,  and 
Georgie  Griggs  saw  that  his  feet  were  bare  and  that  he 
wore  no  coat. 

"Who  be  'ee,  little  man?"  said  Farmer  Griggs. 

"I'm  a  boggart,  at  your  service." 

"Na,  na,"  said  Farmer  Griggs,  "thee's  at  na  sarvice  o' 
mine.  I'll  give  na  room  in  my  house  to  the  likes  o'  thee"; 
and  he  made  as  though  he  would  have  shut  the  door  in  the 
face  of  the  little  urchin. 

"But  listen,  Georgie  Griggs,"  said  the  boggart;  "I  will 
do  you  a  good  service." 


72 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


Then  Farmer  Griggs  did  listen.    "What  sarvice  will 
'ee  do  me,  then?"  said  he. 

"I'll  tend  your  fires,"  said  the  manikin,  "I'll  bake  your 


bread,  I'll  wash  your  dishes,  I'll  scour  your  pans,  I'll  scrub 
your  floors,  I'll  brew  your  beer,  I'll  roast  your  meat,  I'll 
boil  your  water,  I'll  stuff  your  sausages,  I'll  skim  your 
milk,  I'll  make  your  butter,  I'll  press  your  cheese,  I'll 


73 


74  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

pluck  your  geese,  I'll  spin  your  thread,  I'll  knit  your  stock- 
ings, I'll  mend  your  clothes,  I'll  patch  your  shoes — I'll 
be  everywhere  and  do  all  of  the  work  in  your  house,  so 
that  you  will  not  have  to  give  so  much  as  a  groat  for  wages 
to  cook,  scullion,  or  serving  wench!" 

Then  Farmer  Griggs  listened  a  little  longer  without 
shutting  the  door,  and  so  did  Dame  Griggs.  "What's  thy 
name,  boggart?"  said  he. 

"Hardfist,"  said  the  boggart;  and  he  came  a  little 
farther  in  at  the  door,  for  he  saw  that  Farmer  Griggs  had 
a  mind  to  let  him  in  all  of  the  way. 

"I  don't  know,"  said  Georgie  Griggs,  scratching  his 
head  doubtfully;  "it's  an  ill  thing,  lettin'  mischief  intull 
the  house!    Thee's  better  outside,  I  doubt." 

"Shut  the  door,  Georgie!"  called  out  Dame  Griggs; 
"thou'rt  lettin'  th'  cold  air  intull  th'  room." 

Then  Farmer  Griggs  shut  the  door,  but  the  boggart 
was  on  the  inside. 

This  is  the  way  in  which  the  boggart  came  into  Farmer 
Griggs's  house,  and  there  he  was  to  stay,  for  it  is  no  such 
easy  matter  getting  rid  of  the  likes  of  him  when  we  once 
let  him  in,  I  can  tell  you. 

The  boggart  came  straightway  over  to  the  warm  fire, 
and  the  dog  growled — "chur-r-r-r!" — and  showed  his 
teeth,  and  the  cat  spit  anger  and  jumped  up  on  the  dresser, 
with  her  back  arched  and  her  tail  on  end.  But  the  boggart 
cared  never  a  whit  for  this,  but  laid  himself  comfortably 
down  among  the  warm  ashes. 

Now  imps,  like  this  boggart,  can  only  be  seen  as  the 
frost  is  seen — when  it  is  cold.    So  as  he  grew  warmer  and 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  75 

warmer,  he  grew  thin,  like  a  jelly-fish,  and  at  last,  when 
he  had  become  thoroughly  warmed  through,  Farmer 
Griggs  and  the  dame  could  see  him  no  more  than  though 
he  was  thin  air.  But  he  was  in  the  house,  and  he  stayed 
there,  I  can  tell  you.  For  a  time  everything  went  as  smooth 
as  cream;  all  of  the  work  of  the  house  was  done  as  though 
by  magic,  for  the  boggart  did  all  that  he  had  promised;  he 
made  the  fires,  he  baked  the  bread,  he  washed  the  dishes,  he 
scoured  the  pans,  he  scrubbed  the  floors,  he  brewed  the 
beer,  he  roasted  the  meat,  he  stuffed  the  sausages,  he  skim- 
med the  milk,  he  made  the  butter,  he  pressed  the  cheese,  he 
plucked  the  geese,  he  spun  the  thread,  he  knit  the  stock- 
ings, he  mended  the  clothes,  he  patched  the  shoes — he  was 
everywhere  and  did  all  of  the  work  of  the  house.  When 
Farmer  Griggs  saw  these  things  done,  and  so  deftly,  he 
rubbed  his  hands  and  chuckled  to  himself.  He  sent  cook 
and  scullion  and  serving  maid  a-packing,  there  being  noth- 
ing for  them  to  do,  for,  as  I  said,  all  of  these  things  were 
done  as  smooth  as  cream.  But  after  a  time,  and  when  the 
boggart's  place  had  become  easy  to  him,  like  an  old  shoe, 
mischief  began  to  play  the  pipes  and  he  began  to  show  his 
pranks.  The  first  thing  that  he  did  was  to  scrape  the 
farmer's  butter,  so  that  it  was  light  of  weight,  and  all  of  the 
people  of  the  market  town  hooted  at  him  for  giving  less 
than  he  sold.  Then  he  skimmed  the  children's  milk,  so  that 
they  had  nothing  but  poor  watery  stuff  to  pour  over  their 
pottage  of  a  morning.  He  took  the  milk  from  the  cat,  so 
that  it  was  like  to  starve;  he  even  pilfered  the  bones  and 
scrapings  of  the  dishes  from  the  poor  house-dog,  as  though 
he  was  a  very  magpie.  He  blew  out  the  rush-lights,  so  that 


76  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

they  were  all  in  the  dark  after  sunset;  he  made  the  fires 
burn  cold,  and  played  a  hundred  and  forty  other  impish 
tricks  of  the  like  kind.  As  for  the  poor  little  children, 
they  were  always  crying  and  complaining  that  the  boggart 
did  this  and  the  boggart  did  that ;  that  he  scraped  the  butter 
from  their  bread  and  pulled  the  coverlids  off  of  them  at 
night. 

Still  the  boggart  did  his  work  well,  and  so  Farmer 
Griggs  put  up  with  his  evil  ways  as  long  as  he  could.  At 
last  the  time  came  when  he  could  bear  it  no  longer.  "Look 
'ee,  now,  Mally,"  said  he  to  his  dame,  "it's  all  along  o'  thee 
that  this  trouble's  coome  intull  th'  house.  I'd  never  let 
the  boggart  in  with  my  own  good-will !"  So  spoke  Farmer 
Griggs,  for  even  nowadays  there  are  men  here  and  there 
who  will  now  and  then  lay  their  own  bundle  of  faults  on 
their  wives'  shoulders. 

"I  bade  thee  do  naught  but  shut  the  door!"  answered 
Dame  Griggs. 

"Ay;  it's  easy  enough  to  shut  the  door  after  the 
trouble's  come  in!" 

"Then  turn  it  out  again!" 

"Turn  un  out!  Odds  bodkins,  that's  woman's  wit! 
Dost  'ee  not  see  that  there's  no  turnin'  o'  un  out?  Na, 
na;  there's  naught  to  do  but  to  go  out  ourselves!" 

Yes;  there  was  nothing  else  to  be  done.  Go  they  must, 
if  they  would  be  rid  of  the  boggart.  So  one  fine  bright  day 
in  the  blessed  spring-time,  they  packed  all  of  their  be- 
longings into  a  great  wain,  or  cart,  and  set  off  to  find  a  new 
home. 

Off  they  trudged,  just  as  you  see  in  the  picture,  the 


STORY- OF- A*/**. 

BLVE-  CHIN  AtfL  ATE 


Tr  here  was  a  C°chin  Chinaman  , 
Wh°se  name  it  was  Ah-Lee, 
And  the  fame-was  jud  as  fin©  aman 
As  you  could  wifh  tofee , 
For  he  was  rich  and  flrong, 
And  his  queue w-&s  extralong, 
And  he  lived  on  rice  and  fifh  and  chiccory 

"Which  "he  had  alovely  daughter,    -^=r 

And  hemamewas  Avai-Ri-An,      ~        -{Xs 

And  fhe  youthful  "Wang  who  sought  he-r  J*.  r^z. 

H  and  was  but  a  poor  young  manj       j?Jk 

$o  her  haughty  father  faid-,  ^ 

"Y°u  fhal  I  never,  never  wed 
Such  apauper  as  this  pennilefs  young  man) 

>y 

S°fhe  daughter  and  her  lover, 

They  eloped  onefummer  day, 
"Which  Ah-Lee  he  did  difcover, 
And  purfued  without  delay; 
But  fhe  Goddefs  L°",I4ve  heard , 
Changed  each  lover  to  a  bird  , 
And  from. fhe  bad  Ah- "Lee  fhey  flew  awaTO 


Ah  me!  Ah-Lee  jlhe  chance  is, ^ 

T  hat  v^e  al  I  of  u  s  may  know 
Of  unpleafant  circumftances 
Wewould  like  to  flay,  but  oh! 
The  inevitable  "things 
Will  take  unto  fhem~wingsr 
And  •will  fly  where  we  may  never  hopeto 
I  would  further  like  to  ftate, 
That  fhe  tale  which,  l.relale-, 
You  can  fee  °nanyptato 
That  was  made  mCo.ehin)|Ghir\a>yearS  ago 


here  was  an°ld  •woman, as  I've  heardfay, 
Who  owned  b  ut  a  ftngla'  gnotb . 
And 'flie  dame.  lived  over  toward  THixtan  way, 
Andthe animal  ran. at  loofe . 
It  cackled  up  andit  cackled  down , 
Disturbing  the  peace°faH  the  town; 
Gentle  and  fimple,  .Knight  and  clown* 
Fromfhedawn  to  fiie  clofe  of  day. 

/"mother  oMwomarvofnatrnuchnate, 
Lived  over  toward  Truxton  way., 
Whoownsd  a  goat  -with  a  lhaggy  blackccat, 
As  Tve,  heard  the  neighbours  fay. 
Andit -was  the  fearofoneandaU-, 
Butting  the great,and  butting  rhefrnall,- 
N°  matter  wham,-  who  happened tofall 
In  the  way  of  this  evil  goat. 

J  aid  the  firftoid  woman  ."This  ugh/ goat 

Should  never  thus  run  at  [cafe/1 
Saldrhefecond  "Iwlihmey'd  cutfhe -throat 
Of  that rvolfy  cackling  g°°fe." 
And  fb  it  happened  when  e'er  -fhatihey 
NX'ould  meet  each  other  upon  the  way 
They'd  bicker  and  bioker  die  livelang  day 
In  die  key  «tTafi:o]dlng  note. 

Dut  all  the  neighbours-,  great  andfmall , 
Complained  of  bothwifh grievous  ton e» 

Prom  which  I  gather  fhai  we,  all 
See  other*  fault?  andnotour°wxu 


77 


78 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


three  little  children  seated  high  up  in  the  wain,  and  the 
farmer  and  the  dame  plodding  ahead. 

Now,  as  they  came  to  the  bottom  of  Shooter's  Hill, 
whom  should  they  meet  but  their  good  neighbor  and 


gossip,  Jerry  Jinks.     "So,   Georgie,"   said  he,   "you're 
leavin'  th'  ould  house  at  last?" 

"High,  Jerry,"  quoth  Georgie.  "We  were  forced  tull 
it,  neighbor,  for  that  black  boggart  torments  us  so  that 
there  was  no  rest  night  or  day  for  it.  The  poor  bairns' 
stomachs  are  empty,  and  the  good  dame's  nigh  dead  for  it. 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  79 

So  off  we  go,  like  th'  field-fares  in  the  autumn — we're 
flittin',  we're  flittin' !" 

Now  on  the  wain  was  a  tall,  upright  churn;  as  soon 
as  Georgie  had  ended  his  speech,  the  lid  of  the  churn  be- 
gan to  clipper-clapper,  and  who  should  speak  out  of  it. 
but  the  boggart  himself.  "Ay,  Jerry!"  said  he,  "we're 
a  flittin',  we're  a  flittin',  man!  Good-day  to  ye,  neighbor, 
good-day  to  ye !    Come  and  see  us  soon  time !" 

"High!"  cried  Georgie  Griggs,  "art  thou  there,  thou 
black  imp?  Dang  un!  We'll  all  go  back  tull  th'  old 
house,  for  sure  it's  better  to  bear  trouble  there  than  in  a 
new  place." 

So  back  they  went  again — boggart  and  all. 

By  this  you  may  see,  my  dear,  if  you  warm  an  imp  by 
your  fire,  he  will  soon  turn  the  whole  house  topsy-turvy. 
Likewise,  one  cannot  get  rid  of  a  boggart  by  going  from 
here  to  there,  for  it  is  sure  to  be  in  the  cart  with  the  house- 
hold things. 

But  how  did  Georgie  Griggs  get  rid  of  his  boggart? 
That  I  will  tell  you. 

He  went  to  Father  Grimes,  the  wise  man,  who  lived  on 
in  a  little  house  on  the  moor.  "Father  Grimes,"  said  he, 
"how  shall  I  get  rid  of  my  boggart?" 

Then  Father  Grimes  told  him  to  take  this  and  that, 
and  to  do  thus  and  so  with  them,  and  see  what  followed. 
So  Farmer  Griggs  went  to  Hugh  the  tailor's,  and  told  him 
to  make  a  pretty  red  coat  and  a  neat  pair  of  blue  breeches. 
Then  he  went  to  William  the  hatter's,  and  bade  him  to 
make  a  nice  little  velvet  cap  with  a  bell  at  the  top  of  it. 
Then  he  went  to  Thomas  the  shoemaker's,  and  bade  him 
to  make  a  fine  little  pair  of  shoes.    So  they  all  did  as  he 


80  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

told  them,  and  after  these  things  were  made  he  took  them 
home  with  him.  He  laid  them  on  a  warm  spot  on  the 
hearth  where  the  boggart  used  to  come  to  sleep  at  night. 
Then  he  and  his  dame  hid  in  the  closet  to  see  what  would 
follow. 

Presently  came  the  boggart,  whisking  here  and  danc- 
ing there,  though  neither  the  farmer  nor  the  dame  could 
see  him  any  more  than  though  he  had  been  a  puff  of  wind. 

"Heigh-ho!"  cried  the  boggart,  "these  be  fine  things 
for  sure."  So  saying,  he  tried  the  hat  upon  his  head,  and 
it  fitted  exactly.  Then  he  tried  the  coat  on  his  shoulders, 
and  it  fitted  like  wax.  Then  he  tried  the  breeches  on  his 
legs,  and  they  fitted  as  though  they  grew  there.  Then  he 
tried  the  shoes  on  his  feet,  and  there  never  was  such  a  fit. 
So  he  was  clad  in  all  his  new  clothes  from  top  to  toe, 
whereupon  he  began  dancing  until  he  made  the  ashes  on 
the  hearth  spin  around  with  him  as  though  they  had  gone 
mad,  and,  as  he  danced,  he  sang : 

"Cap  for  the  head,  alas  poor  head! 
Coat  for  the  back,  alas  poor  back! 
Breeks  for  the  legs,  alas  poor  legs! 
Shoen  for  the  feet,  alas  poor  feet! 
If  these  be  mine,  mine  cannot  be 
The  house  of  honest  man,  Georgie!" 

So  he  went  singing  and  dancing,  and  skipping  and 
leaping,  out  of  the  house  and  away.  As  for  Georgie 
Griggs  and  his  dame,  they  never  heard  a  squeak  from  him 
afterwards. 

Thus  it  was  that  Farmer  Griggs  got  rid  of  his  boggart. 
All  I  can  say  is,  that  if  I  could  get  rid  of  mine  as  easily 


OVERCONFIDENC  E, : 

peacock,  sat  °ny®  garden  wall 
CSee  picture  here  t°  y  a  right),  I 

And.yefolkcarne  crowding-  great  and  Invall- 
F°  r  i  t  chanced  that  none  i  n  y e  town.  a.t  al  1 

Had  ever  teen  fuch  ajight. 
If  you'd  have  been  there  perhaps  you'd  havehearc 
Yef0lk.talkthu5-,  as  they  looked  at ye  bird, :  Jiff* 

"  O  crickety  I  -  L  aw!-     J& 

0  jimmeny  me!- 

1  never  yet  iaw!- 
Who  ever  did  see 

5uch  a  beautiful  sight  in  the  world  before , 
Since  ye  animals  marched  fromyeold  ark  door? 

O!  Lookatyefpots 

Inhistail!   AndyeJots 
Of  green  and  of  blue  in  his  beautiful  wing 
I'd  give  a  new  fhil  ling  t°  know  if  he  fi ng 


Ye  peacock  fays ,"  Surely,  they'll  greatly  rejoice 
To  hear  but  a  touch  of  my  delicate  voice. 

(.Sings.) 


i_ 


"  O  dear !  O  dear 

O  ftopit!-Odo!- 

We  never  did  hear   , 

$uch  a-hullaballoof.-.' 
'Tis  worle  fhan.y&noi(e,  that  ye  carpenters  mal 
Whentheyfharpen  their  faws!-Now,  for  charity's" 

Give  over  this  fqualling , 

And  catermawalling  \" 
Cried  al  I  y  °  good  people  who  c  hanced  to  be  near ; 
Eachthrufting  a  finger-tip  into  each  ear 


You  fee  yepoop  dunce  had  attempted  to  thine 
Inaway  that  was  out  of  his  natural  line 


"jHE-poRCE-  of-J\|eed-^ 


p=^ — 

oy,Robin!  ho, Robin! 

.Singing  on  fhe  tree, 
I  will  give  you  whitebroad, 

If  you  will  come  to  me." 


"Oh!  the  little  breeze  is  finging 
T°  fho  nodd  ing  dailies  white; 
And  fhe  tender  grafs  is  fpringing, 

And  fhe  sun  i>  warm  and  bright; 
And  my  little  mate  is  ■waiting 

In  fhe  budding  hedge  forme-, 
S°,°n  fhe  whoLeJ'll  n°t  accept 

"Y°ur  kindly  courtefy-" 


"Hey, Robin!  ho, Robin! 

Now  fhe  north 'winds  blow; 
Wherefore  do  you  come  here, 
In  fhe  ice  and  snow  ? " 

"The  wind  is  raw,  fhe  flowers  are  dead, 
The  frofl  is  on  fhe  fhorn , 
S°ril  gladly  take  a  crust  of  bread, 
And  come  where  it  is  warm-" 

Oh,ChiIdren!  little  Children! 

H  ave you  ever  chanced  to  fee 
One  beg  for  crust  that  sneered  at 

Inbrightprofperity?  crumi) 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


81 


(for  I  have  one  in  my  own  housed  I  would  make  him 
a  suit  of  clothes  of  the  finest  silks  and  satins,  and  would 
hang  a  bell  of  pure  silver  on  the  point  of  his  cap.  But, 
alackaday !  there  are  no  more  wise  men  left  to  us,  like  good 
Father  Grimes,  to  tell  one  an  easy  way  to  get  rid  of  one's 
boggart. 


ONCE  there  was  a  prince,  and  his 
name  was  John.  One  day  his 
father  said  to  him,  "See,  John;  I  am 
growing  old,  and  after  a  while  the  time 
will  come  when  I  must  go  the  way  of  everybody  else. 
Now  I  would  like  to  see  you  married  before  I  leave  you." 

"Very  well,"  said  the  Prince,  for  he  always  answered 
the  King  in  seemly  fashion;  "and  who  shall  it  be?" 

"Why  not  the  Princess  of  the  White  Mountain?"  said 
the  old  King. 

"Why  not,  indeed?"  said  the  young  Prince,  "only  she 
is  too  short." 

"Why  not  the  Princess  of  the  Blue  Mountain?"  said 
the  old  King. 

"Why  not,  indeed?"  said  the  young  Prince,  "only  she 
is  too  tall." 

"Why  not  the  Princess  of  the  Red  Mountain?"  said 
the  old  King. 

"Why  not,  indeed?"  said  the  young  Prince,  "only  she 
is  too  dark." 

"Then  whom  will  you  have?"  said  the  old  King. 


82 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  83 

"That  I  do  not  know,"  said  the  young  Prince,  "only 
this:  that  her  brow  shall  be  as  white  as  milk,  and  her 
cheeks  shall  be  as  red  as  blood,  and  her  eyes  shall  be 
as  blue  as  the  skies,  and  her  hair  shall  be  like  spun  gold." 

"Then  go  and  find  her!"  said  the  old  King,  in  a  huff, 
for  his  temper  was  as  short  as  chopped  flax.  "And  don't 
come  back  again  till  you've  found  her!"  he  bawled  after 
the  Prince  as  he  went  out  to  the  door. 

So  the  Prince  went  out  into  the  wide  world  to  find 
such  a  maiden  as  he  spoke  of — whose  brow  was  as 
white  as  milk,  whose  cheeks  were  as  red  as  blood,  whose 
eyes  were  as  blue  as  the  skies,  and  whose  hair  was  like 
spun  gold — and  he  would  have  to  travel  a  long  dis- 
tance to  find  such  a  one  nowadays,  would  he  not? 

So  off  he  went,  tramp!  tramp!  tramp!  till  his  shoes 
were  dusty  and  his  clothes  were  gray.  Nothing  was  in 
his  wallet  but  a  lump  of  brown  bread  and  a  cold  sausage, 
for  he  had  gone  out  into  the  world  in  haste,  as  many  a 
one  has  done  before  and  since  his  day. 

So  he  went  along,  tramp !  tramp !  tramp !  and  by-and- 
by  he  came  to  a  place  where  three  roads  met,  and  there  sat 
an  old  woman. 

"Hui!  hui!  but  I  am  hungry!"  said  the  old  woman. 

Now  the  Prince  was  a  good-hearted  fellow,  so  he  said 
to  the  old  woman,  "It  is  little  I  have,  but  such  as  it  is  you 
are  welcome  to  it."  Thereupon  he  gave  the  old  woman 
the  lump  of  brown  bread  and  the  cold  sausage  that  was 
in  his  wallet,  and  the  old  woman  ate  it  up  at  a  bite. 

"Hui!  hui!  but  I  am  cold!"  said  she. 

"It  is  little  that  I  have,  but  such  as  it  is  you  are  wel- 
come to  it,"  said  the  Prince,  and  he  gave  the  old  woman 


84 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


the  dusty  coat  off  his  back.    After  that  he  had  nothing 
more  to  give  her. 

"One  does  not  give  something  for  nothing,"  said  the 
old  woman,  so  she  began  fumbling  about  in  her  pocket 


until  she  found  an  old  rusty  key.  And  the  best  part  of 
the  key  was,  that  whenever  one  looked  through  the  ring 
of  it,  one  saw  everything  just  as  it  really  was  and  not 
as  it  seemed  to  be. 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  85 

Who  would  not  give  his  dinner  and  the  coat  off  his 
back  for  such  a  key? 

After  that  the  Prince  stepped  out  again,  right  foot 
foremost,  tramp !  tramp !  tramp !  until  evening  had  come, 
and  he  felt  as  hungry  as  one  is  like  to  do  when  one 
goes  without  one's  dinner.  At  last  he  came  to  a  dark 
forest,  and  to  a  gray  castle  that  stood  just  in  the  middle 
of  it.  This  castle  belonged  to  a  great,  ugly  troll,  though 
the  Prince  knew  nothing  of  that. 

"Now  I  shall  have  something  to  eat,"  said  he,  and  he 
opened  the  door  of  the  castle  and  went  in. 

Only  one  person  was  within,  and  that  was  a  maiden; 
but  she  was  as  black  from  head  to  foot  as  Fritz  the 
charcoal  burner.  The  Prince  had  never  seen  the  like  of 
her  in  all  of  his  life  before,  so  he  drew  the  rusty  key 
out  of  his  pocket  and  took  a  peep  at  her  through  the 
ring  of  it,  to  see  what  manner  of  body  she  really  was. 

Then  he  saw  that  she  was  no  longer  black  and  ugly, 
but  as  beautiful  as  a  ripe  apple;  for  her  forehead  was  as 
white  as  milk,  her  cheeks  were  as  red  as  blood,  her  eyes 
were  as  blue  as  the  skies,  and  her  hair  was  like  spun  gold. 
Moreover,  any  one  could  see  with  half  an  eye  that  she 
was  a  real  princess,  for  she  wore  a  gold  crown  on  her 
head,  such  as  real  princesses  are  never  without. 

"You  are  the  one  whom  I  seek,"  said  the  Prince. 

"Yes,  I  am  the  one  you  seek,"  said  she. 

"And  how  can  I  free  you  from  your  enchantment?" 
said  he. 

"If  you  will  abide  here  three  nights,  and  will  bear  all 
that  shall  happen  to  you  without  a  word,  then  I  shall 
be  free,"  said  she. 


86  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

"Oh  yes,  I  will  do  that,"  said  the  Prince. 

After  that  the  black  Princess  set  a  good  supper  be- 
fore him,  and  the  Prince  ate  like  three  men. 

By-and-by  there  was  a  huge  noise,  and  the  door 
opened  and  in  came  an  ugly  troll  with  a  head  as  big 


as  a  bucket.  He  rolled  his  great  saucer  eyes  around  till 
he  saw  the  Prince  where  he  sat  beside  the  fire. 

"Black  cats  and  spotted  toads!"  bellowed  he,  "what 
are  you  doing  here?" 

But  to  this  the  Prince  answered  never  a  word. 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  87 

"We  shall  see  whether  or  no  there  is  sound  in  you!" 
roared  the  troll.  Thereupon  he  caught  the  Prince  by  the 
hair  and  dragged  him  out  into  the  middle  of  the  room. 
Then  he  snatched  up  a  great  cudgel  and  began  beating 
the  Prince  as  though  he  were  a  sack  of  barley-flour; 
but  the  Prince  said  never  a  word.  At  last  the  troll  had  to 
give  over  beating  him,  for  the  morning  had  come  and  the 
troll  was  afraid  the  sun  would  catch  him;  and  if  that  were 
to  happen,  he  would  swell  up  and  burst  with  a  great 
noise.  "We  shall  see  whether  you  will  come  again!"  said 
he,  and  then  he  left  the  Prince  lying  on  the  floor  more 
dead  than  alive;  and  if  anybody  was  sore  in  all  of  the 
world,  the  Prince  was  that  man. 

After  the  troll  had  left  the  house,  the  black  Princess 
came  and  wept  over  the  Prince;  and  when  her  tears 
fell  on  him,  pain  and  bruise  left  him,  and  he  was  as 
whole  as  ever.  When  he  looked  he  saw  that  the  black 
Princess's  feet  were  as  white  as  silver. 

The  next  night  the  troll  came  again,  and  with  him  two 
others.  "Black  cats  and  spotted  toads!"  bellowed  he, 
"are  you  here  again?"  Then  he  caught  the  Prince  by  the 
hair  and  dragged  him  out  into  the  middle  of  the  floor, 
and  all  three  of  the  trolls  fell  upon  the  Prince  and 
beat  him  with  clubs,  as  though  he  had  been  a  sack  of 
barley-flour.  But  the  Prince  bore  this  too  without  a 
word.  At  last  the  morning  came,  and  they  had  to  give 
over  beating  him.  "We  shall  see  if  you  will  come  again," 
said  the  troll  of  the  house. 

After  the  trolls  had  gone,  the  black  Princess  came 
and  wept  over  the  Prince  as  she  had  done  before,  and 
when  her  tears  fell  on  him  he  was  made  whole  again. 


88 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


And  now  the  hands  of  the  black  Princess  were  as  white 
as  silver. 

The  third  night  the  troll  of  the  house  came,  and 
brought  with  him  six  others.  Then  the  same  thing  hap- 
pened as  before,  and  they  beat  the  Prince  with  great 
cudgels  as  thick  as  my  thumb.    At  last  the  morning  came, 


and  they  went  away  bellowing  and  howling,  for  their 
enchantment  had  gone.  As  for  the  Prince,  he  lay  upon 
the  floor  more  dead  than  alive,  for  he  could  neither  see 
nor  hear  anything  that  happened  about  him. 

Then  the  Princess  came  for  the  third  time  and  wept 
over  him,  and  he  was  whole  and  sound  again.    As  for 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  89 

the  Princess,  she  stood  before  him,  and  now  her  brow  was 
as  white  as  milk,  and  her  cheeks  were  as  red  as  blood,  and 
her  eyes  were  as  blue  as  the  skies,  and  her  hair  was 
like  spun  gold.  But  the  beautiful  Princess  had  little 
or  nothing  upon  her,  so  the  Prince  wrapped  her  in  a 
ram's  skin  that  was  in  the  troll's  house.  Then  he  turned 
his  toes  the  way  he  had  come,  and  started  away  for  home, 
taking  her  along  with  him. 

So  they  went  along  and  along  till  they  had  come  so 
near  to  the  King's  house  that  they  could  see  the  high 
roofs  and  the  weathercocks  over  the  crest  of  the  next  hill. 
There  the  Prince  bade  the  Princess  to  wait  for  him  till 
he  went  home  and  brought  her  a  dress  of  real  silver  and 
gold,  such  as  was  fitting  for  her  to  wear.  Then  he 
left  her,  and  the  Princess  sat  down  beside  the  roadside 
to  wait  until  he  should  come  again. 

Now  as  the  Princess  sat  there,  there  came  along  the 
old  goose-herd  of  the  palace,  and  with  her  came  her 
daughter;  for  they  were  driving  the  royal  geese  home 
again  from  where  they  had  been  eating  grass.  When 
they  saw  the  beautiful  Princess,  clad  in  her  ram's  hide, 
they  stared  as  though  they  would  never  shut  their  eyes 
again.  Then  they  wanted  to  know  all  about  her — who 
she  was,  and  where  she  came  from,  and  what  she  sat 
there  for.  So  the  Princess  told  them  all  that  they  wanted 
to  know,  and  that  she  waited  there  for  the  Prince  to 
come  with  a  dress  all  of  silver  and  gold,  which  would 
suit  her  better  than  the  old  ram's  hide  which  she  wore. 

Then  the  old  goose-woman  thought  that  it  would  be 
a  fine  thing  to  have  her  daughter  in  the  Princess's  place, 
so  that  she  might  have  the  dress  of  real  silver  and  gold, 


90 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


and  marry  the  Prince.  So  the  goose-herd's  daughter 
held  the  Princess,  and  the  old  goose-herd  stripped  the 
ram's  hide  off  from  her. 

No  sooner  had  they  done  this  than  the  Princess  was 
changed  into  a  beautiful  golden  bird,  and  flew  away  over 
hill  and  over  valley.  Then  the  goose-herd's  daughter 
clad  herself  in  the  ram's  hide,  and  sat  down  in  the 
Princess's  place. 


"Yes,  my  pretty  little  bird,"  said  the  old  goose-herd, 
"thou  wilt  make  a  fine  Princess!"  But,  prut!  she  was  no 
more  like  a  Princess  than  I  am,  for  she  was  squat,  and 
round-shouldered,  and  had  hair  of  the  color  of  tow. 

Then  the  old  goose-herd  drove  her  geese  away,  and 
the  goose-girl  waited  for  the  coming  of  the  Prince. 

Sure  enough,  after  a  while  the  Prince  came  with  a 
fine  dress,  all  of  real  silver  and  gold;  but  when  he  saw 
the  goose-girl  he  beat  his  head  with  his  knuckles,  for 
he  thought  that  it  was  the  Princess,  and  that  she  was 
enchanted  again. 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  91 

Why  did  he  not  look  through  the  ring  of  his  magic 
key? 

Perhaps  for  this,  perhaps  for  that — one  cannot  be 
always  wise. 


Then  the  Prince  dressed  the  goose-girl  in  the  fine 
dress  of  gold  and  silver,  and  took  her  home  with  him. 
Hui!  how  everybody  stared  and  laughed  when  they 
saw  what  kind  of  a  Princess  it  was  that  the  Prince 
brought  home  with  him!    As  for  the  poor  old  King,  he 


92  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

rubbed  his  spectacles  and  looked  and  looked,  for  he 
thought  that  this  was  a  strange  sort  of  a  wife  for  the 
Prince  to  make  such  a  buzz  about.  However,  he  said 
nothing,  for  he  thought  to  himself  that  perhaps  she  would 
grow  prettier  by-and-by. 

So  orders  were  given  for  a  grand  wedding  on  Thurs- 
day, and  the  old  King  asked  all  of  the  neighbors  to  come, 
and  even  those  who  lived  at  a  distance,  for  this  was  to 
be  a  very  grand  wedding  indeed. 

But  the  old  goose-herd  told  her  daughter  to  mix  a 
sleeping  powder  with  the  Prince's  wine  at  supper,  for, 
if  the  real  Princess  were  to  come  at  all,  she  would  come 
that  night.  So  the  goose-girl  did  as  she  was  told,  and 
the  Prince  drank  the  sleeping  powder  with  his  wine, 
and  knew  nothing  of  it. 

That  night  the  golden  bird  came  flying,  and  sat  in  the 
linden  tree  just  outside  of  the  Prince's  chamber  window. 
Then  she  clapped  her  wings  and  sang: 

"I  wept  over  you  once, 
I  wept  over  you  twice, 
I  wept  over  you  three  times. 
In  the  ram's  skin  I  waited, 
And  out  of  the  ram's  skin  I  flew. 
Why  are  you  sleeping, 
Life  of  my  life?" 

But  the  Prince  slept  as  sound  as  a  dormouse,  and 
when  the  dawn  came  and  the  cocks  crew  the  golden  bird 
was  forced  to  fly  away. 

The  next  night  the  false  Princess  did  as  she  had  done 
before,  and  mixed  a  sleeping  powder  with  the  Prince's 
cup  of  wine. 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  93 

That  night  the  golden  bird  came  again,  and  perched 
in  the  linden  tree  outside  of  the  Prince's  window,  and 
sang: 

"I  wept  over  you  once, 
I  wept  over  you  twice, 
I  wept  over  you  three  times. 
In  the  ram's  skin  I  waited, 
And  out  of  the  ram's  skin  I  flew. 
Why  are  you  sleeping, 
Life  of  my  life?" 

But  once  more  the  Prince  slept  through  it  all,  and 
when  morning  had  come  the  golden  bird  was  forced 
to  fly  away. 

Now  it  chanced  that  that  night  some  of  the  folk  of 
the  King's  household  heard  the  bird  singing,  and  they 
told  the  Prince  all  about  it.  So  when  the  third  night 
came,  and  the  false  Princess  gave  the  Prince  the  cup  of 
wine  with  the  sleeping  powder  in  it,  he  threw  the  wine 
over  his  shoulder,  and  never  touched  so  much  as  a  drop 
of  it. 

That  night  the  bird  came  for  the  third  time,  and  sang 
as  it  had  done  before. 

But  this  time  the  Prince  was  not  sleeping.  He 
jumped  out  of  his  bed  and  ran  to  the  window,  and  there 
he  saw  the  bird,  and  its  feathers  shone  like  fire  because 
they  were  of  pure  gold.  Then  he  got  his  magic  key  and 
looked  through  the  ring  of  it,  and  whom  should  he  see 
but  his  own  Princess  sitting  in  the  linden  tree. 

Then  the  Prince  called  to  her,  "What  shall  I  do 
to  set  you  free  from  this  enchantment?" 

"Throw  your  knife  over  me,"  said  the  Princess. 


94 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


No  sooner  said  than  done.  The  Prince  threw  his 
knife  over  her,  and  there  she  stood  in  her  own  true  shape. 
Then  the  Prince  took  her  to  the  King,  and  when  the 
King  saw  how  pretty  she  was,  he  skipped  and  danced 
till  his  slippers  flew  about  his  ears. 

The  next  morning  the  old  King  went  to  the  false 
Princess,  and  said,  "What  should  be  done  to  one  who 
would  do  thus  and  so?" 


To  this  the  false  Princess  answered,  as  bold  as  brass, 
"Such  a  one  should  be  thrown  into  a  pit  full  of  toads 
and  snakes." 

"You  have  spoken  for  yourself,"  said  the  King;  and 
he  would  have  done  just  so  to  her  had  not  the  true  Prin- 
cess begged  for  her  so  that  she  was  sent  back  again  to 
tend  the  geese,  for  that  was  what  she  was  fit  for. 

Then  they  had  the  grandest  wedding  that  ever  was 
seen  in  all  of  the  world.  Everybody  was  asked,  and  there 
was  enough  for  all  to  eat  as  much,  as  they  chose,  and  to 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  95 

take  a  little  something  home  to  the  children  beside.     If 
I  had  been  there  I  would  have  brought  you  something. 

What  is  the  meaning  of  all  this? 

Listen,  I  will  tell  you  something. 

Once  there  was  a  man,  and  he  winnowed  a  whole 
peck  of  chaff,  and  got  only  three  good  solid  grains  from 
it,  and  yet  he  was  glad  to  have  so  much. 

Would  you  winnow  a  whole  peck  of  chaff  for  only 
three  good  grains?  No?  Then  you  will  never  know 
all  that  is  meant  by  this  story. 


T 


MrlERE  was  a  woman  once,  and  she 
had  three  daughters.  The  first 
daughter  squinted  with  both  eyes,  yet  the  woman  loved 
her  as  she  loved  salt,  for  she  herself  squinted  with  both 
eyes.  The  second  daughter  had  one  shoulder  higher  than 
the  other,  and  eyebrows  as  black  as  soot  in  the  chimney, 
yet  the  woman  loved  her  as  well  as  she  loved  the  other,  for 
she  herself  had  black  eyebrows  and  one  shoulder  higher 
than  the  other.  The  youngest  daughter  was  as  pretty  as 
a  ripe  apple,  and  had  hair  as  fine  as  silk  and  the  color  of 
pure  gold,  but  the  woman  loved  her  not  at  all,  for,  as  I 
have  said,  she  herself  was  neither  pretty,  nor  had  she  hair 
of  the  color  of  pure  gold.  Why  all  this  was  so,  even  Hans 
Pfifendrummel  cannot  tell,  though  he  has  read  many 
books  and  one  over. 

The  first  sister  and  the  second  sister  dressed  in  their 
Sunday  clothes  every  day,  and  sat  in  the  sun  doing  noth- 
ing, just  as  though  they  had  been  born  ladies,  both  of 

them. 

96 


A    Disappointment^ 


priuSee,tell  me  wh^y 
Oh  /Aaid^o  jweet  and  rare! 
She 

£\  am  ye  miller's  daughter,sir;  ^/y  (4  " 

w      And  live  just  over  fhre" 

5  #e 

,^Of  all  ye/vYaids  lever  jaw, 
',**      Y°u  are  beyond  compare?1 

St?  She  P^m 

'Oh;uSankyou,jip!Oh-,fhankyou,sir!     % 

mL      Y°  u  i*  word  5  are  ve  ry  fa  i  r  '■' 

s£-S°IwI<}  asky°u  5omefhing,noW;       'Jj 
If  I  might  only  dare"  v,  /JT 

'a'Now^youTnay  askmewhry°u  please 
F°r  anyfhing  I  care  ." 


I 


#e 


Then  will  you  marry  me?  Forwe  ■ 
^     W,d  make  a  go°d]y  pair." 
2&  She 

"Ifhankyou  sir;your  offer.it 
M,       Is  mojt  extremely  rave, 
i  rBut  as  lam  already -wed, 
s|     -You'r  late,sir,ior  ye  Fair? 


\ 


\ 


■^ 


t  fhs  yc  Bachelor  walked  away; 
'('And  talked  to  himself  of  (h1  Lao  so  gay-,,, 

'Her  hair  is  verydecidedly  red> 

And  her  eye?  have  somewhat  of  acast  mher  head; 

And  her  feet  are  large- ;  and  her  hands  are  coarse-, 
|    And,\vifhout  I'm  mistaken,  her  voice  is  hoarse  . 
\  cTis  a  bargain  of  whch  I  amvery  well  rid; 

1  am  g!ad,or\  ye  whole  ,1  escaped  as  I  did." 


e  fad  R ory  concerning  one 
innocent  little  Lamb  -Jp* 
and  four  wicked  v^olves: 


little- lamb  was  gamboling, 
Upon  apleafant  day, 
And  four  grey  wolves  came  fhambling, 
And  flopped  to  fee  it  play 
In  the  sun- 
Said  the  lamb ,"  Perhaps  I  may 
Charm  fhefe  creatures  "with  my  play, 
And  they'll  let  meg°  away, 
"When  I've  done." 


The  wolves,  fhey  sat  afmiling  at 

The  playful  thing  ,to  tee 
How  exceedingly  beguiling  fhat 
Its  pretty  play  could  be. 
See  ithop! 
But  Its  ftrengfh  began  to  wane,' 
Though  it  gamboled  on  in  pain , 
Till  it  finally  was  Tain, 
Fortofiop, 


!  fhenfhere  was  a  munching, 

Of  that  tender  little  fhing, 
d  a  crunching  and  a  (crunching 
As  you'ld  munch  a  chicken  wing. 
No  avail 
Was  its  cunning, merry  play 
~ or  fhe  only  fhing ,  they  fay, 
That  was  left  of  it  fhat  day, 
Was- its  tail, 
owifhme-,  whenl  am  done, 
And  the  critics  have  begun, 
All  fhey'U  leave  me  of  my  fun 
'LI  befhetale. 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  97 

As  for  Christine — that  was  the  name  of  the  youngest 
girl — as  for  Christine,  she  dressed  in  nothing  but  rags, 
and  had  to  drive  the  geese  to  the  hills  in  the  morning  and 
home  again  in  the  evening,  so  that  they  might  feed  on 
the  young  grass  all  day  and  grow  fat. 

The  first  sister  and  the  second  sister  had  white  bread 
(and  butter  beside)  and  as  much  fresh  milk  as  they 
could  drink;  but  Christine  had  to  eat  cheese-parings 
and  bread-crusts,  and  had  hardly  enough  of  them  to 
keep  Goodman  Hunger  from  whispering  in  her  ear. 

This  was  how  the  churn  clacked  in  that  house! 

Well,  one  morning  Christine  started  off  to  the  hills 
with  her  flock  of  geese,  and  in  her  hands  she  carried  her 
knitting,  at  which  she  worked  to  save  time.  So  she  went 
along  the  dusty  road  until,  by-and-by,  she  came  to  a 
place  where  a  bridge  crossed  the  brook,  and  what  should 
she  see  there  but  a  little  red  cap,  with  a  silver  bell  at  the 
point  of  it,  hanging  from  the  alder  branch.  It  was  such 
a  nice,  pretty  little  red  cap  that  Christine  thought  that 
she  would  take  it  home  with  her,  for  she  had  never  seen 
the  like  of  it  in  all  of  her  life  before. 

So  she  put  it  in  her  pocket,  and  then  off  she  went  with 
her  geese  again.  But  she  had  hardly  gone  two-score  of 
paces  when  she  heard  a  voice  calling  her,  "Christine! 
Christine!" 

She  looked,  and  who  should  she  see  but  a  queer  little 
gray  man,  with  a  great  head  as  big  as  a  cabbage  and 
little  legs  as  thin  as  young  radishes. 

"What  do  you  want?"  said  Christine,  when  the  little 
man  had  come  to  where  she  was. 

Oh,  the  little  man  only  wanted  his  cap  again,  for 


98 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


without  it  he  could  not  go  back  home  into  the  hill — 
that  was  where  he  belonged. 

But  how  did  the  cap  come  to  be  hanging  from  the 
bush?  Yes,  Christine  would  like  to  know  that  before 
she  gave  it  back  again. 


The  little  man  asks  for  his  cap  • 


Well,  the  little  hill-man  was  fishing  by  the  brook  over 
yonder  when  a  puff  of  wind  blew  his  cap  into  the  water, 
and  he  just  hung  it  up  to  dry.  That  was  all  that  there  was 
about  it;  and  now  would  Christine  please  give  it  to  him? 

Christine  did  not  know  how  about  that;  perhaps  she 
would  and  perhaps  she  would  not.  It  was  a  nice,  pretty 
little  cap;  what  would  the  little  underground  man  give 
her  for  it?  that  was  the  question. 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  99 

Oh,  the  little  man  would  give  her  five  thalers  for  it, 
and  gladly. 

No;  five  thalers  was  not  enough  for  such  a  pretty 
little  cap — see,  there  was  a  silver  bell  hanging  to  it  too. 

Well,  the  little  man  did  not  want  to  be  hard  at  a 
bargain;  he  would  give  her  a  hundred  thalers  for  it. 

No;  Christine  did  not  care  for  money.  What  else 
would  he  give  for  this  nice,  dear  little  cap? 

"See,  Christine,"  said  the  little  man,  "I  will  give  you 
this  for  the  cap";  and  he  showed  her  something  in  his 
hand  that  looked  just  like  a  bean,  only  it  was  as  black 
as  a  lump  of  coal. 

"Yes,  good;  but  what  is  that?"  said  Christine. 

"That,"  said  the  little  man,  "is  a  seed  from  the  apple 
of  contentment.  Plant  it,  and  from  it  will  grow  a  tree, 
and  from  the  tree  an  apple.  Everybody  in  the  world  that 
sees  the  apple  will  long  for  it,  but  nobody  in  the  world 
can  pluck  it  but  you.  It  will  always  be  meat  and  drink 
to  you  when  you  are  hungry,  and  warm  clothes  to  your 
back  when  you  are  cold.  Moreover,  as  soon  as  you 
pluck  it  from  the  tree,  another  as  good  will  grow  in  its 
place.    Now,  will  you  give  me  my  hat?" 

Oh  yes;  Christine  would  give  the  little  man  his  cap 
for  such  a  seed  as  that,  and  gladly  enough.  So  the  little 
man  gave  Christine  the  seed,  and  Christine  gave  the 
little  man  his  cap  again.  He  put  the  cap  on  his  head, 
and — puff! — away  he  was  gone,  as  suddenly  as  the  light 
of  a  candle  when  you  blow  it  out. 

So  Christine  took  the  seed  home  with  her,  and  planted 
it  before  the  window  of  her  room.  The  next  morning 
when  she  looked  out  of  the  window  she  beheld  a  beautiful 


100 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


tree,  and  on  the  tree  hung  an  apple  that  shone  in  the  sun 
as  though  it  were  pure  gold.  Then  she  went  to  the  tree 
and  plucked  the  apple  as  easily  as  though  it  were  a 
gooseberry,  and  as  soon  as  she  had  plucked  it  another 
as  good  grew  in  its  place.  Being  hungry  she  ate  it,  and 
thought  that  she  had  never  eaten  anything  as  good,  for 
it  tasted  like  pancake  with  honey  and  milk. 


By-and-by  the  oldest  sister  came  out  of  the  house  and 
looked  around,  but  when  she  saw  the  beautiful  tree  with 
the  golden  apple  hanging  from  it  you  can  guess  how  she 
stared. 

Presently  she  began  to  long  and  long  for  the  apple 
as  she  had  never  longed  for  anything  in  her  life.  "I  will 
just  pluck  it,"  said  she,  "and  no  one  will  be  the  wiser  for 
it."  But  that  was  easier  said  than  done.  She  reached  and 
reached,  but  she  might  as  well  have  reached  for  the 
moon;  she  climbed  and  climbed,  but  she  might  as  well 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


101 


have  climbed  for  the  sun — for  either  one  would  have  been 
as  easy  to  get  as  that  which  she  wanted.  At  last  she  had 
to  give  up  trying  for  it,  and  her  temper  was  none  the 
sweeter  for  that,  you  may  be  sure. 

After  a  while  came  the  second  sister,  and  when  she 
saw  the  golden  apple  she  wanted  it  just  as  much  as  the 
first  had  done.    But  to  want  and  to  get  are  very  different 


things,  as  she  soon  found,  for  she  was  no  more  able  to  get 
it  than  the  other  had  been. 

Last  of  all  came  the  mother,  and  she  also  strove  to 
pluck  the  apple.  But  it  was  no  use.  She  had  no  more 
luck  of  her  trying  than  her  daughters;  all  that  the  three 
could  do  was  to  stand  under  the  tree  and  look  at  the  apple, 
and  wish  for  it  and  wish  for  it. 

They  are  not  the  only  ones  who  have  done  the  like,  with 
the  apple  of  contentment  hanging  just  above  them. 

As  for  Christine,  she  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  pluck 


102  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

an  apple  whenever  she  wanted  it.  Was  she  hungry?  there 
was  the  apple  hanging  in  the  tree  for  her.  Was  she 
thirsty?  there  was  the  apple.  Cold?  there  was  the  apple. 
So  you  see,  she  was  the  happiest  girl  betwixt  all  the  seven 
hills  that  stand  at  the  ends  of  the  earth ;  for  nobody  in  the 
world  can  have  more  than  contentment,  and  that  was  what 
the  apple  brought  her. 

II 

One  day  a  king  came  riding  along  the  road,  and  all  of 
his  people  with  him.  He  looked  up  and  saw  the  apple 
hanging  in  the  tree,  and  a  great  desire  came  upon  him  to 
have  a  taste  of  it.  So  he  called  one  of  the  servants  to  him, 
and  told  him  to  go  and  ask  whether  it  could  be  bought  for 
a  potful  of  gold. 

So  the  servant  went  to  the  house,  and  knocked  on  the 
door — rap!  tap!  tap! 

"What  do  you  want?"  said  the  mother  of  the  three 
sisters,  coming  to  the  door. 

Oh,  nothing  much;  only  a  king  was  out  there  in  the 
road,  and  wanted  to  know  if  she  would  sell  the  apple 
yonder  for  a  potful  of  gold. 

Yes,  the  woman  would  do  that.  Just  pay  her  the  pot 
of  gold  and  he  might  go  and  pluck  it  and  welcome. 

So  the  servant  gave  her  the  pot  of  gold,  and  then  he 
tried  to  pluck  the  apple.  First  he  reached  for  it,  and 
then  he  climbed  for  it,  and  then  he  shook  the  limb. 

But  it  was  no  use  for  him  to  try;  he  could  no  more  get 
it — well — than  /  could  if  I  had  been  in  his  place. 

At  last  the  servant  had  to  go  back  to  the  King.    The 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


103 


apple  was  there,  he  said,  and  the  woman  had  sold  it,  but 
try  and  try  as  he  would  he  could  no  more  get  it  than 
he  could  get  the  little  stars  in  the  sky. 

Then  the  King  told  the  steward  to  go  and  get  it  for 
him;  but  the  steward,  though  he  was  a  tall  man  and  a 
strong  man,  could  no  more 
pluck  the  apple  than  the 
servant. 

So  he  had  to  go  back  to 
the  King  with  an  empty  fist. 
No;  he  could  not  gather  it, 
either. 

Then  the  King  himself 
went.  He  knew  that  he 
could  pluck  it — of  course 
he  could!  Well,  he  tried 
and  tried;  but  nothing  came 
of  his  trying,  and  he  had  to 
ride  away  at  last  without 
having  had  so  much  as  a 
smell  of  the  apple. 

After  the  King  came 
home,  he  talked  and 
dreamed  and  thought  of 
nothing  but  the  apple;  for 

the  more  he  could  not  get  it  the  more  he  wanted  it — that 
is  the  way  we  are  made  in  this  world.  At  last  he  grew 
melancholy  and  sick  for  want  of  that  which  he  could  not 
get.  Then  he  sent  for  one  who  was  so  wise  that  he  had 
more  in  his  head  than  ten  men  together.  This  wise  man 
told  him  that  the  only  one  who  could  pluck  the  fruit  of 


104  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

contentment  for  him  was  the  one  to  whom  the  tree  be- 
longed. This  was  one  of  the  daughters  of  the  woman 
who  had  sold  the  apple  to  him  for  the  pot  of  gold. 

When  the  King  heard  this  he  was  very  glad;  he  had 
his  horse  saddled,  and  he  and  his  court  rode  away,  and  so 
came  at  last  to  the  cottage  where  Christine  lived.  There 
they  found  the  mother  and  the  elder  sisters,  for  Christine 
was  away  on  the  hills  with  her  geese. 

The  King  took  off  his  hat  and  made  a  fine  bow. 

The  wise  man  at  home  had  told  him  this  and  that; 
now  to  which  one  of  her  daughters  did  the  apple-tree 
belong?  so  said  the  King. 

"Oh,  it  is  my  oldest  daughter  who  owns  the  tree," 
said  the  woman. 

So,  good!  Then  if  the  oldest  daughter  would  pluck 
the  apple  for  him  he  would  take  her  home  and  marry 
her  and  make  a  queen  of  her.  Only  let  her  get  it  for  him 
without  delay. 

Prut!  that  would  never  do.  What!  was  the  girl  to 
climb  the  apple-tree  before  the  King  and  all  of  the 
court?  No!  no!  Let  the  King  go  home,  and  she  would 
bring  the  apple  to  him  all  in  good  time;  that  was  what 
the  woman  said. 

Well,  the  King  would  do  that,  only  let  her  make  haste, 
for  he  wanted  it  very  much  indeed. 

As  soon  as  the  King  had  gone,  the  woman  and  her 
daughters  sent  for  the  goose-girl  to  the  hills.  Then  they 
told  her  that  the  King  wanted  the  apple  yonder,  and 
that  she  must  pluck  it  for  her  sister  to  take  to  him ;  if  she 
did  not  do  as  they  said  they  would  throw  her  into  the 
well.    So  Christine  had  to  pluck  the  fruit;  and  as  soon 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


105 


as  she  had  done  so  the  oldest  sister  wrapped  it  up  in  a 
napkin  and  set  off  with  it  to  the  King's  house,  as  pleased 
as  pleased  could  be.  Rap !  tap !  tap !  she  knocked  at  the 
door.    Had  she  brought  the  apple  for  the  King? 

Oh  yes,  she  had  brought  it.    Here  it  was,  all  wrapped 
up  in  a  fine  napkin. 


After  that  they  did  not  let  her  stand  outside  the  door 
till  her  toes  were  cold,  I  can  tell  you.  As  soon  as  she 
had  come  to  the  King  she  opened  her  napkin.  Believe 
me  or  not  as  you  please,  all  the  same,  I  tell  you  that  there 
was  nothing  in  the  napkin  but  a  hard  round  stone.  When 
the  King  saw  only  a  stone  he  was  so  angry  that  he 
stamped  like  a  rabbit  and  told  them  to  put  the  girl  out 
of  the  house.  So  they  did,  and  she  went  home  with 
a  flea  in  her  ear,  I  can  tell  you. 


io6 


PEPPER  AND  SALT 


Then  the  King  sent  his  steward  to  the  house  where 
Christine  and  her  sisters  lived. 

He  told  the  woman  that  he  had  come  to  find  whether 
she  had  any  other  daughters. 


Yes;  the  woman  had  another  daughter,  and,  to  tell 
the  truth,  it  was  she  who  owned  the  tree.  Just  let  the 
steward  go  home  again  and  the  girl  would  fetch  the  apple 
in  a  little  while. 

As  soon  as  the  steward  had  gone,  they  sent  to  the  hills 
for  Christine  again.     Look!  she  must  pluck  the  apple 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  107 

for  the  second  sister  to  take  to  the  King;  if  she  did  not  do 
that  they  would  throw  her  into  the  well. 

So  Christine  had  to  pluck  it,  and  gave  it  to  the  second 
sister,  who  wrapped  it  up  in  a  napkin  and  set  off  for 
the  King's  house.  But  she  fared  no  better  than  the 
other,  for,  when  she  opened  the  napkin,  there  was  noth- 
ing in  it  but  a  lump  of  mud.  So  they  packed  her  home 
again  with  her  apron  to  her  eyes. 


After  a  while  the  King's  steward  came  to  the  house 
again.  Had  the  woman  no  other  daughter  than  these 
two? 

Well,  yes,  there  was  one,  but  she  was  a  poor  ragged 
thing,  of  no  account,  and  fit  for  nothing  in  the  world  but 
to  tend  the  geese. 

Where  was  she? 

Oh,  she  was  up  on  the  hills  now  tending  her  flock. 

But  could  the  steward  see  her? 


io8  PEPPER  AND  SALT 

Yes,  he  might  see  her,  but  she  was  nothing  but  a  poor 
simpleton. 

That  was  all  very  good,  but  the  steward  would  like 
to  see  her,  for  that  was  what  the  King  had  sent  him 
there  for. 

So  there  was  nothing  to  do  but  to  send  to  the  hills  for 
Christine. 

After  a  while  she  came,  and  the  steward  asked  her 
if  she  could  pluck  the  apple  yonder  for  the  King. 

Yes;  Christine  could  do  that  easily  enough.  So 
she  reached  and  picked  it  as  though  it  had  been  nothing 
but  a  gooseberry  on  the  bush.  Then  the  steward  took  off 
his  hat  and  made  her  a  low  bow  in  spite  of  her  ragged 
dress,  for  he  saw  that  she  was  the  one  for  whom  they 
had  been  looking  all  this  time. 

So  Christine  slipped  the  golden  apple  into  her  pocket, 
and  then  she  and  the  steward  set  off  to  the  King's  house 
together. 

When  they  had  come  there  everybody  began  to  titter 
and  laugh  behind  the  palms  of  their  hands  to  see  what 
a  poor  ragged  goose-girl  the  steward  had  brought  home 
with  him.    But  for  that  the  steward  cared  not  a  rap. 

"Have  you  brought  the  apple?"  said  the  King,  as 
soon  as  Christine  had  come  before  him. 

Yes;  here  it  was;  and  Christine  thrust  her  hand  into 
her  pocket  and  brought  it  forth.  Then  the  King  took 
a  great  bite  of  it,  and  as  soon  as  he  had  done  so  he 
looked  at  Christine  and  thought  that  he  had  never  seen 
such  a  pretty  girl.  As  for  her  rags,  he  minded  them  no 
more  than  one  minds  the  spots  on  a  cherry;  that  was 
because  he  had  eaten  of  the  apple  of  contentment. 


PEPPER  AND  SALT  109 

And  were  they  married?  Of  course  they  were !  and  a 
grand  wedding  it  was,  I  can  tell  you.  It  is  a  pity  that 
you  were  not  there;  but  though  you  were  not,  Christine's 
mother  and  sisters  were,  and,  what  is  more,  they  danced 
with  the  others,  though  I  believe  they  would  rather  have 
danced  upon  pins  and  needles. 

"Never  mind,"  said  they;  "we  still  have  the  apple  of 
contentment  at  home,  though  we  cannot  taste  of  it."  But 
no;  they  had  nothing  of  the  kind.  The  next  morning  it 
stood  before  the  young  Queen  Christine's  window,  just 
as  it  had  at  her  old  home,  for  it  belonged  to  her  and  to 
no  one  else  in  all  of  the  world.  That  was  lucky  for 
the  King,  for  he  needed  a  taste  of  it  now  and  then  as 
much  as  anybody  else,  and  no  one  could  pluck  it  for 
him  but  Christine. 

Now,  that  is  all  of  this  story.    What  does  it 

mean?    Can  you  not  see?    Prut!  rub 

your  spectacles  and  look  again ! 


THE  END 


Wk 


